Steinberg Cubase SE 3 Operation Manual

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The MIDI editors 21 – 421
Adding and editing events in the controller display
When any option other than “Velocity” is selected for viewing in a 
controller lane, you can create new events or edit the values of exist-
ing events using the Pencil tool or the Line tool in its various modes:
• Clicking with the Pencil tool or the Line tool in Paint mode creates a new event.
Note the “Select Tool defaults to Pen” option - see page 418. 
• To modify the value of an event (without creating a new one), press [Alt]/[Op-
tion] and use the Pencil tool or the Line tool’s Paint mode.
Note that you can click and drag to change or add multiple events, draw controller 
curves, etc. You can press or release [Alt]/[Option] while drawing, switching dynami-
cally between “edit mode” and “create mode”.
• With the Pencil tool and the Line tool in Paint mode, the quantize value de-
termines the “density” of created controller curves (if Snap is activated).
For very smooth curves, you should use a small quantize value or turn off Snap. How-
ever, please note that this creates a very large number of MIDI events, which can cause 
MIDI playback to “stutter” in some situations. A medium-low density is often sufficient.
If you want to enter or adjust a single event, click once with the Pencil tool or the 
Line tool in Paint mode:
If you want to “paint a curve”, drag the tool (with the mouse button pressed):
When you move the pointer in the controller lane, the 
corresponding value is displayed in this field. 
						

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• Clicking and dragging with the Line tool in Line mode shows a line in the con-
troller lane, and creates events with values aligned with this line.
This is the best way to draw linear controller ramps. If you press [Alt]/[Option], no new 
events are created – use this mode for modifying existing controller curves.
• The Parabola mode works in the same way, but aligns the values with a para-
bola curve instead, giving more “natural” curves and fades.
Note that the result depends on from which direction you draw the parabola:
Converting a controller curve to a ramp using 
the Line tool: 
						

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• In Parabola mode you can use modifier keys to determine the shape of the 
parabola curve.
If you press [Ctrl]/[Command] the parabola curve will be reversed, if you press [Alt]/
[Option]+[Ctrl]/[Command] while snap is activated you can change the position of the 
whole curve (in both cases the snap value for the positioning will be a quarter of the 
quantize value). If you press [Shift], the exponent will be increased or decreased.
• In Line and Parabola modes, the length quantize value determines the 
“density” of created controller curves (if Snap is activated).
For very smooth curves, you should use a small length quantize value or turn off Snap. 
To avoid over-dense controller curves (which may cause MIDI playback to “stutter”), 
use a medium-low density.
• The Sine, Triangle and Square modes create events with values aligned to 
continuous curves.
In these modes, the quantize value determines the period of the curve (the length of 
one curve “cycle”) and the length quantize value determines the density of the events 
(the lower the length quantize note value, the smoother the curve).
• In Sine, Triangle and Square mode you can also use modifier keys to determine 
the shape of the curve.
If you press [Ctrl]/[Command] you can change the phase of the beginning of the curve, 
if you press [Alt]/[Option]+[Ctrl]/[Command] while snap is activated you can change 
the position of the whole curve (in both cases the snap value for the positioning will be 
a quarter of the quantize value).
• You can also set the curve period freely by holding down [Shift] when 
you insert events in Sine, Triangle or Square mode.
Activate Snap, [Shift]-click and drag to set the length of one period. The period length 
will be a multiple of the quantize value. 
						

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• In Triangle and Square mode you can press [Shift]+[Ctrl]/[Command] to 
change the maximum position of the triangle curve (to create sawtooth curves) 
or the pulse of the square curve. As in other modes, you can press [Alt]/[Op-
tion] if you want to change the existing events rather than creating new ones. 
Again, the snap value for the positioning will be a quarter of the quantize value.
Moving and copying events
You can move or duplicate events in a controller lane, much like you 
can with notes:
1.Click with the Arrow tool to select the events you want to cut or copy.
If the option “Controller Lane Editing: Select Tool defaults to Pen” is activated in the 
Preferences dialog (Editing page), you need to press [Ctrl]/[Command] to get the 
Arrow tool.
2.Click and drag the events to move them.
If Snap is activated, this determines to which positions you can move the events (see 
page 468).
•If you hold down [Alt]/[Option] and drag, the events will be copied 
rather than moved.
If there already is an event of the same type at the exact same position, 
this will be replaced by the moved event.
Remember that a non-note event doesn’t have a length – it’s “valid” until 
the next event (see page 403). 
						

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Using cut, copy and paste
You can use the standard Cut, Copy and Paste options on the Edit 
menu to move or copy events in the controller display:
1.Select the events you want to cut or copy.
2.Select Cut or Copy from the Edit menu.
3.If you want to paste the events into another MIDI part, open that part 
in another Key Editor window.
4.Position the project cursor where you want to paste the events.
5.Select Paste from the Edit menu.
The events on the clipboard are added, starting at the project cursor position, main-
taining their relative positions. If a pasted event ends up at the same position as an 
existing event of the same type, the old event is replaced. 
Deleting events in the controller display
You delete events by clicking with the Eraser tool or by selecting them 
and pressing [Backspace]. Please note:
•Deleting a controller event makes the last event before this valid up 
until the next event. It does not “zero” any controller changes. See 
page 403.
•You can delete notes by deleting their velocity bars in the controller 
display.
Please be aware that if there is more than one note on the same position, there may 
still only be one velocity bar visible – make sure you delete only the desired notes! 
						

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Adding and editing Poly Pressure events
Poly Pressure events are special, in that they “belong to” a specific 
note number (key). That is, each Poly Pressure event has two editable 
values: the note number and the amount of pressure. Therefore, when 
Poly Pressure is selected on the event type pop-up menu, there are 
two value fields to the left of the controller display, one for the note 
number and one for the amount:
To add a new Poly Pressure event, proceed as follows:
1.Select Poly Pressure on the event type pop-up menu.
2.Set the note number by clicking on the keyboard display.
Note that this only works for the topmost lane. If you have selected “Poly Pressure” for 
several controller lanes, you have to type in the desired note number directly in the 
lower value field to the left of each lane. The selected note number is displayed in the 
lower value field to the left of the controller display.
3.Use the Pencil tool to add a new event, just as when adding regular 
controller events.
To view and edit existing Poly Pressure events, proceed as follows:
1.Select Poly Pressure on the event type pop-up menu.
2.Click on the arrow button next to the note number field to the left of 
the controller lane.
A pop-up menu appears, listing all note numbers for which there already are Poly Pres-
sure events.
3.Select a note number from the pop-up menu.
The Poly Pressure events for the selected note number are shown in the controller lane.
4.Use the Pencil tool to edit the events as usual.
Press [Alt]/[Option] to edit existing events without adding any new ones.
•Poly Pressure events can also be added and edited in the List Editor. 
						

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The Drum Editor – Overview
The toolbar and info line
These are much the same as the toolbar and info line in the Key Editor, 
with the following differences:
• The Drum Editor has no Pencil tool – instead there is a Drumstick tool (for in-
putting and removing notes) and a Line tool with various line and curve modes 
(for drawing several notes in one go or editing controller events).
• There are no Scissors and Glue Tube tools in the Drum Editor.
• As in the Key Editor, the mouse pointer display in the toolbar shows the pitch 
and position of the pointer, but the pitch is shown as a drum sound name 
rather than a note number.
• The Use Global Quantize button allows you to select which value should be 
used when Snap is on – the global quantize value on the toolbar or the indi-
vidual quantize values for the drum sounds.
• Instead of a Length Quantize pop-up, there is an Insert Length pop-up menu.
It is used in much the same way, as described on the following pages.  
						

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The drum sound list
The purpose of the Drum Editor is to edit MIDI tracks where each note 
(pitch) plays a separate sound, as is typically the case with a MIDI 
drum kit. The drum sound list to the left lists all drum sounds by name 
(according to the selected drum map or name list – see below), and 
lets you adjust and manipulate the drum sound setup in various ways.
Note:
• The number of columns in the list depends on whether there’s a drum map 
selected for the track or not.
See page 433.
• You can reorder the columns by dragging the column headings, and resize 
the columns by dragging the dividers between the column headings.  
						

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The note display
The Drum Editor’s note display displays notes as diamond symbols. The 
vertical position of the notes corresponds to the drum sound list to the 
left, while the horizontal position corresponds to the note’s position in 
time, just as in the Key Editor. Note however, that the diamond symbols 
don’t indicate the length of the notes. This makes sense, since drum 
sounds most often are “one-shot” samples that play to their end regard-
less of the note lengths.
Drum map and name pop-up menus
Below the drum sound list you will find two pop-up menus, used for se-
lecting a drum map for the edited track or (if no drum map is selected) 
a list of drum sound names. For an explanation of drum maps, see page 
433.
Controller display
The controller display in the Drum Editor is exactly the same as in the 
Key Editor. You can add or remove controller lanes from the Quick 
menu, and create and edit events as described on page 416. 
						

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Drum Editor operations
The basic handling (zooming, playback, auditioning, etc.) is the same 
as in the Key Editor (see page 404). The following sections describe 
the procedures and features that are specific to the Drum Editor.
Creating and editing notes
The standard way of entering notes in the Drum Editor is to click with 
the Drumstick tool.
When you move the pointer in the note display, its bar position and drum sound is 
indicated in the toolbar, making it easy to find the right sound and position.
The position of the created note depends on the following factors:
• If Snap is deactivated on the toolbar, the note will appear exactly where you 
clicked.
In this mode, notes can be positioned freely.
• If Snap is activated and Use Global Quantize is deactivated on the toolbar, 
the note will snap to positions according to the quantize value set for the 
sound in the drum sound list.
You can set up different quantize values for different drum sounds. You may for exam-
ple want hi-hat notes snap to sixteenth notes, but snare and bass drum snap to eighth 
notes.
• If both Snap and Use Global Quantize are activated, the note will snap to po-
sitions according to the Quantize setting on the toolbar (next to the Use Glo-
bal Quantize button).
The length of the inserted note is determined by the Insert Length set-
ting on the toolbar. However, if this is set to “Drum-Map Link”, the 
note will get the length of the quantize value for the drum sound.