Steinberg Cubase Studio 4 Operation Manual Studio Manual

							576
Working with symbols
Moving by using the computer keyboard
You can assign key commands for moving symbols, notes 
or rests graphically in the Key Commands dialog on the 
File menu. The commands are found under the “Nudge” 
category and are called “Graphical Left”, “Graphical 
Right”, “Graphical Top” and “Graphical Bottom”.
Selecting an object and using one of these commands is 
the same as dragging them with the Layout tool, but this 
method offers higher precision.
Moving and duplicating with the bar handles
This function allows you to move or copy the contents of a 
whole bar to one or several other bars. You can select 
which elements in the bar should be included in the oper-
ation. Proceed as follows:
1.Bring up the display filter bar by clicking the “Show Fil-
ter View” button on the toolbar.
2.On the filter bar, make sure the “Bar Handles” option 
is activated.
Now, each bar in the score is shown with a handle in the upper left corner.
3.Double-click on the handle of the bar from which you 
want to copy or move symbols.
The Bar Copy dialog appears.
4.Make sure that only the symbol types you want to 
move/copy are checked.5.If you have several subsequent bars to which you want 
to copy symbols, set the “Repeats” value to this number of 
bars.
If you only want to copy symbols from one bar to another, make sure “Re-
peats” is set to 1. This option is only available for copying, not for moving.
6.If you want this dialog to appear every time you per-
form the move/copy operation (see below), activate 
“Show Dialog”.
7.Click OK to close the dialog.
8.To copy the specified event types to another bar, hold 
down [Alt]/[Option], click on the bar handle of the first bar 
and drag it to the “target” bar.
To move the event types instead of copying them, drag the bar handle 
without holding down [Alt]/[Option].
If you activated “Show Dialog” in step 6 above, the Bar 
Copy dialog appears, allowing you to confirm your settings.
Click OK to close the dialog and perform the operation.
Now, the following happens:
If you activated “Note Symbols” in step 4 above, the 
note symbols are copied from the “source” bar and pasted 
onto notes at the same positions in the “target” bar. If 
there is a note symbol for a certain note in the “source” 
bar, but no note at the corresponding position in the “tar-
get” bar, the symbol will be ignored.
The actual positions of notes are used as a basis for this operation – not 
the displayed positions.
 If you activated other types of symbols in step 4 above, these 
will simply be moved to the same graphical position in the “tar-
get” bar.
 If you set “Repeats” to a number larger than 1 in step 5 above, 
the same symbols will be pasted into that number of bars 
(starting from the one you drag the bar handle to).
Bar handles
If you copy the note symbols from the first bar to the second bar…
…only symbols that find corresponding note positions in the 
second bar will be copied. 
						

							577
Working with symbols
 If you didn’t hold down [Alt]/[Option] when dragging the bar 
handle, the symbols (and other event types specified in the di-
alog) are removed from the “source” bar.
About moving note symbols
Note symbols, slurs and ties all have “default positions”. 
This determines the vertical distance between the note 
head(s) and the symbol. 
You can manually adjust the vertical positions of individ-
ual symbols, but if you move or transpose their notes, the 
symbols are automatically reset to their default positions. 
This also ensures that note symbols and slurs are positioned sensibly 
when you change the display transpose settings.
To reset the vertical positions of note symbols and slurs 
in a score, right-click on the corresponding object and se-
lect “Default position” from the context menu that appears.
Changing length, size and shape
You can change the shape of any symbol that has a 
length. Proceed as follows:
Changing the length of a symbol
1.Select the symbol.
The handles appear.
Symbols with a length have two handles when selected.
2.Drag one of the handles.
You may be restricted to vertically or horizontally only, depending on the 
type of symbol.
Resizing note symbols and dynamics
1.Right-click on a dynamic or note symbol.
2.Select the desired option from the Size submenu.
The size of the symbol will change accordingly.
Changing the symbol size.
Altering the shape and direction of slurs and 
ties
ÖThis section describes how to alter the “regular” slur 
and tie symbols. How to add and edit Bezier slur symbols 
is described in the section “The Bezier slur” on page 569.
There are two types of slurs and ties in the symbol Inspec-
tor. The up/down variation of each actually represent the 
same symbol but with different initial direction. You can 
perform the following editing to slurs and ties:
By dragging the middle handle up/down you can 
change the shape of the curve. 
Dragging the middle handle of a slur changes its shape.
By selecting a slur or a tie and clicking the “Flip” symbol 
on the extended toolbar or by selecting “Flip Position” in 
the context menu, you can change the direction and posi-
tioning of the slur or tie.
Actually, there are three “modes” for a slur or tie. You step through these 
three modes by clicking the button:
!If there already are symbols (or other objects) of the 
specified types in the “target” bars, these will be re-
moved!
!In the Preferences dialog (Scores-Editing page), 
there is a preference called “Keep Crescendo Sym-
bols Horizontal”. When this is activated, crescendo 
and diminuendo symbols will never be slanted. 
						

							578
Working with symbols
By dragging the end points of a slur or tie, you can 
change its shape without affecting its “relation” to the 
notes it belongs to.
In other words, the end point of the slur/tie will then keep its relative dis-
tance to that note when the note is moved with the Layout tool or when 
the measure width is adjusted.
By holding down [Ctrl]/[Command] and dragging the 
end points of a slur or tie, it can be detached from the 
notes it belonged to.
To change the default shape and spacing of slurs and 
ties, open the Score Settings–Project page and edit the 
settings “Slur’s Start & End Distance from Note Head” 
and “Slur’s Middle Distance from Note Head” in the Spac-
ings subpage.
These settings will be used for all new slurs and ties you create, as well as 
for all existing slurs for which you haven’t manually changed the shape.
Deleting symbols
This is done as with all other objects in Cubase, either 
with the Erase tool or by selecting it and pressing [Delete] 
or [Backspace].
Copy and paste
All symbols except those in the Layout and Project tabs 
can be copied and pasted just as any other object in Cu-
base. The following applies:
Symbols that were tied to notes (e.g. accents) will be-
come “free-floating” objects when pasted. 
That is, they are not tied to any note any more. If this is not what you 
want, consider copying with the bar handles, as described in the section 
“Moving and duplicating with the bar handles” on page 576.
Alignment
Symbols can be aligned as in drawing programs. Proceed 
as follows:
1.Select all objects you want to align.
2.On the Scores menu, Align Elements submenu, select 
the desired option.
!To restore the default shape of a symbol, right-click 
on it and select “Default position” from the context 
menu that appears. See “About moving note sym-
bols” on page 577.
Option Result
Left
Right
Top
Bottom 
						

							579
Working with symbols
The “Dynamics” option is a special function for aligning 
dynamic symbols, as described in the section “Aligning 
dynamics” on page 580.
Symbol details
This section further describes some of the symbol tabs.
The “Clefs etc.” tab
Clefs
You can insert a clef symbol anywhere in the score. This will 
have an effect on the notes, just as the first clef on the staff 
has. And just as with the first clef, the type is selected from 
a dialog that appears as soon as you click. See “Inserting 
and editing clefs, keys or time signatures” on page 529 and 
“Setting key, clef and time signature” on page 501.
When you double-click on an existing clef, the same dia-
log appears allowing you to change the type.
When you right-click on a clef, you can change the type 
from the context menu that appears. 
Time signatures
You can insert a time signature symbol at the beginning of 
any bar. Inserting a new time signature will insert a change 
into the tempo track, as described in the section “Inserting 
and editing clefs, keys or time signatures” on page 529.When you click with the Pencil tool, a dialog appears al-
lowing you to specify the time signature. When you dou-
ble-click on an existing time signature symbol, the same 
dialog appears allowing you to change the type. This dia-
log is described in detail in the section “Editing the time 
signature” on page 502. When you right-click on a time 
signature, you can change the type on the context menu 
that appears.
You can select a font and size for time signatures in the 
“Text Settings” subpage of the Score Settings dialog 
(Project page).
The default font for this is the included “Steinberg Notation” font.
Keys
Inserting a key change is similar to inserting a new clef 
(see above). For further information, see “Editing the key” 
on page 504.
In the dialog that appears when you insert a key change, 
you can also insert display transpose changes.
The “Dynamics” tab
Dynamics
There are dynamic symbols ranging from ffff to pppp, plus 
“special” dynamic symbols such as sforzando, fortepiano, 
etc. 
By selecting a dynamic symbol and clicking the “+” and 
“–” buttons on the extended toolbar, you can quickly edit 
dynamics in the score.
You can use this feature to step between pppp, pp, p, mp, mf, f, ff, fff and 
ffff. 
You can also right-click on the desired symbol and se-
lect “One up” or “One down” on the context menu.
As above, these commands can be used to step between pppp, pp, p, 
mp, mf, f, ff, fff and ffff. 
To change the size of a dynamic symbol, right-click on it 
and in the context menu that appears, select the desired 
option from the Size submenu.
In the Line/Trill tab you will find a line symbol which allows 
you to create the following type of change in dynamics:
Center Vertical
Center 
Horizontal
!Note symbols like staccato and accents can only be 
aligned horizontally.
Option Result 
						

							580
Working with symbols
Crescendo and diminuendo (decrescendo)
In the Dynamics tab, there are three kinds of crescendo 
symbols: regular crescendo, regular diminuendo and a 
“double” crescendo (diminuendo–crescendo).
 To insert a crescendo (), select the corre-
sponding symbol from the tab and drag from left to right.
 If you draw a crescendo symbol from right to left, the result will 
be a diminuendo symbol, and vice versa.
 To insert a crescendo-diminuendo () symbol, select the 
double crescendo symbol from the tab and drag from left to 
right.
 To insert a diminuendo-crescendo (>
						

							581
Working with symbols
You can specify globally how tuplets should be dis-
played in the “Notation Style” subpage of the Score Set-
tings–Project page.
You can also select a font and size for the tuplet numbers in the Text Set-
tings subpage. 
Vertical symbols
The vertical symbols in the Line/Trill tab are “note-depen-
dent”. This means that they must be inserted in front of a 
note. For more information see “Note layer symbols” on 
page 562 and the text about grace notes (which behave 
similarly) in the section “Grace notes” on page 558.
The “Other” tab
Lyrics and text symbols are described in the chapter “Wor-
king with text” on page 589. Chord symbols are described 
in the section “Inserting Chord symbols” on page 586.
Pedal down and up symbols
When you insert a Pedal down or up symbol, you will also 
insert an actual MIDI event (damper pedal, control change 
64) at that position. Similarly, inserting or recording a 
damper pedal event in another editor will display a pedal 
down/up symbol in the score.
If the option “Hide Pedal Markers” is activated in the 
Miscellaneous category of “Notation Style” subpage of 
the Score Settings–Project page, all pedal markers are 
hidden.
Use this if you have recorded a lot of damper pedal messages, but don’t 
want these to show in the score (for example if you are writing for an in-
strument other than piano).
A pedal down/up symbol combination can be displayed as 
“Two Symbols”, ““Ped.” + Bracket” or as “Bracket only”. 
Just right-click on the pedal symbol and chose an option 
from the context menu. You can also set this on the Score 
Settings–Project page, on the Notation Style subpage 
(Miscellaneous).
Repeats
Repeat signs (one and two bars) have a special feature: if 
you hold down [Shift]+[Ctrl]/[Command] when entering 
them, notes in the bars they relate to are automatically hid-
den (for more info on hiding symbols, see “Hiding/sho-
wing objects” on page 609).
Box (rectangle) symbol
This is a “generic” box symbol, which may be useful for 
different purposes. If you double-click on a box, a dialog 
opens in which you can specify whether the box should be 
transparent or not, and whether the border should be visi-
ble. This dialog can also be opened by selecting “Proper-
ties” from the context menu.
The box symbol is available in the “Other” and “Layout” 
tabs.
The keyboard symbol
This is described in the section “Adding a keyboard sym-
bol” on page 570. 
						

							582
Working with symbols
Additional symbols
If you click on the “Select Symbol” button and then into the 
score, the “Select Symbol” dialog opens. Here you can 
chose note heads, accidentals and rests that work only as 
drawing elements, i.e. they do not insert any note data into 
the track. They do not affect MIDI playback! You can set the 
desired symbol font size directly in the Font Size field.
The “Layout” tab
Rehearsal marks
These come in two flavors, as numbers and as letters.
When you place the first of these in the score, it will be la-
belled 1 or A (depending which you choose in the tab), 
the second will then automatically be labelled 2 or B, the 
next 3 or C etc. If you delete one, the labelling of the oth-
ers will be shifted so that they always make up a complete 
series of numbers/letters.
You can select a font and size for rehearsal marks in the 
“Text Settings” subpage of the Score Settings–Project 
page.
This dialog also allows you to add a box or an oval around the rehearsal 
mark.
Rehearsal marks can be added automatically, at the 
start position of each Marker in the project.
This is done using the “Marker track to Form” function.
Da Capo and Dal Segno symbols
The “D.C.”, “D.S.” and “Fine” symbols provide a quick way 
to insert some common play directions into the score. The 
symbols are text symbols – you can adjust which font 
should be used in the “Text Settings” subpage of the 
Score Settings–Project page, see “Settings for other fixed 
text elements” on page 598.
To have these symbols actually affect playback, insert 
them from the Project tab and use the Arranger mode.
See “Scores and the Arranger mode” on page 629.
Endings
There are two types of endings, closed (“1”) and open 
(“2”). Both can be stretched to any length or height by 
dragging the handles. You can also double-click or right-
click on the existing number and enter any text you like. 
Endings are available both in the Layout tab (for the layout 
layer), the Project tab (for the project layer) and the Line/
Trill tab (for the note layer). Which one to choose depends 
on the score; while it’s handy to insert endings once and 
for all as Project symbols, this won’t allow you to make in-
dividual adjustments for the different parts.
Tempo
This always shows the current tempo according to the 
tempo track. In other words, to make this symbol display a 
certain tempo, insert the value into the tempo track.
Normally this symbol shows the number of beats (quarter 
notes) per minute, but if you double-click or right-click on 
it, a menu appears that allows you to select any note value. 
The number then changes accordingly. 
						

							583
Working with symbols
Tempo change as note symbol
This symbol allows you to specify a tempo change as a 
change from one note value to another. The example 
above would mean “lower the tempo by a third”.
To change the note value for either symbol, double-click 
or right-click on it and select the desired note value from 
the context menu that appears.
User Symbols
The User Symbols tab lets you create your own graphic 
symbols and use these in the score. 
Creating a user symbol
Initially, the User Symbols tab is empty. To create symbols 
you use the User Symbols editor:
1.Double-click on the empty symbol field in the tab.
The User Symbols editor opens. You can also right-click on an empty 
symbol field and select “Edit…” to open the same dialog.
2.Pull down the Functions pop-up menu and select the 
desired zoom factor from the View submenu.
Often you want to work at a reasonably high zoom factor when drawing 
and editing symbols.
3.Use the tools and functions to draw the symbol you 
want.
The available tools are listed in the table below.
When you are finished, you can close the editor and insert 
the symbol into the score, or you can create more symbols:
4.Select “New Symbol” from the Functions pop-up menu.
An empty symbol field appears in the section to the left of the drawing 
area – this section corresponds to the actual User Symbols tab, showing 
all symbols you have created.
5.Click the new empty symbol field to the left to make 
sure it’s selected.
The drawing area is cleared.
6.Continue creating new symbols this way.
You can edit existing symbols at any time by selecting 
them to the left and using the tools and functions.
Any changes you make are automatically stored in the User Symbols tab 
for the project. You can also export symbols, for use in other projects, 
see below.
To insert a user symbol into the score, click (or double-
click) it in the tab to select the Pencil tool and then click at 
the desired position in the score.
The User Symbols editor – tools and functions
The toolbar contains the following tools and settings, from 
left to right:
Tool Description
Arrow Use this to select objects – press [Shift] to select more 
than one. Click and drag to move objects – press [Ctrl]/
[Command] to drag vertically or horizontally only or press 
[Alt]/[Option] to copy. 
To delete an object, select it and press [Backspace] or 
[Delete].
Line Draws a straight line.
Rectangle Creates a rectangle. You can fill this with the Fill button if 
needed.
Polygon Creates a polygon – click where each corner of the poly-
gon should be and close the figure by clicking outside 
the drawing area.
Circle Creates a circle. You can fill this with the Fill button if 
needed. 
Ellipse Creates an ellipse. You can fill this with the Fill button if 
needed.
Arc Creates an arc.
Text Allows you to insert text objects. Clicking with this tool in 
the drawing area opens a dialog where you enter the text, 
specify font, style, etc. You can double-click on a text ob-
ject you have inserted to change its text or settings.
Symbol Clicking with this tool brings up a dialog where you can 
select any of the existing score symbols and incorporate 
this (at the desired font size) into your own symbol.
Frame Color When this is selected, the Color pop-up menu selects 
the color for the object frame.
Fill Color When this is selected, the Color pop-up menu selects 
the fill color for objects (if Fill is selected)
Fill Click this if you want the object to be filled – you can then 
select a Fill Color for it from the Color pop-up menu.
No Fill Click this if you don’t want the object to be filled. 
						

							584
Working with symbols
The Note Linked pop-up lets you create symbols linked to 
note positions. This affects the whole symbol, not a se-
lected graphic object.
The Functions pop-up menu contains the following items 
(some of these can also be accessed on the context menu 
for the User Symbols tab):
Color pop-up Selects Frame or Fill Color for objects. The “Select Col-
ors…” menu item brings up a standard color dialog.
Line Width Allows you to change the line width used for the selected 
object.
Menu item Description
Not Linked The symbol will not be linked to notes.
Linked/Left The symbol will be linked to a note, appearing to the left 
of the note.
Linked/Center The symbol will be linked and centered to a note.
Linked/Behind The symbol will be linked to a note, appearing to the right 
of the note.
Menu item Description
New Symbol Adds a new empty symbol to the tab (and to the symbol 
list to the left in the editor).
Delete Symbol Deletes the current symbol from the tab.
Export User 
Symbols…Allows you to save the current tab as a separate file on 
disk.
Import User 
Symbols…Loads settings for a complete tab from disk. Note that this 
replaces the current settings.
Export/Import 
Symbol…Lets you save or load individual symbols to/from disk. Im-
porting a symbol replaces the current symbol in the tab.
Delete Deletes the selected object(s).
Select All Selects all objects in the current symbol.
Transform – 
Scale SymbolLets you scale (resize) the selected object by specifying a 
percentage.
Transform – 
Mirror horizon-
tal/verticalMirrors the selected object along the horizontal or vertical 
axis.
Transform – 
Flip ± 90Rotates the selected object by + or – 90 degrees.
Draw – 
GroupGroups the selected objects so that they are treated as 
one.
Draw – 
UngroupUngroups the selected group.
Draw – 
Bring To Front/
Send To BackThese items let you arrange the objects by moving them 
to the front or the back. Tool DescriptionAlign Aligns the selected objects to each other.
View Sets the zoom factor for the drawing area. Menu item Description 
						

							9
Working with chords