Steinberg Cubase Studio 4 Operation Manual Studio Manual

							596
Working with text
Text functions
The Words tab
If you have certain words that you use a lot, you can “store” 
these as dedicated symbols on the Words tab. This will 
save time, since you don’t have to type the same word over 
and over again.
Storing a word
1.Open the Words symbol tab.
This tab is hidden by default. See “Showing/Hiding symbol Inspector 
tabs” on page 563 for information on how to display hidden Inspector 
tabs.
2.Double-click on an “empty” symbol.
The Custom Text Editor dialog appears.
3.Type in the desired word(s) in the text field at the top 
of the dialog.
4.Specify the text type (regular text or lyrics) with the 
Type pop-up.
5.Make settings for font, size and style.
You can also use a text attribute set if you like.
6.Click Exit to close the dialog.
The word(s) you entered appear in the selected symbol field on the 
Words tab.
Right-clicking one of the fields opens a context menu 
with a number of options:
 Select “Edit…” to open the Custom Text Editor dialog.
 Select “New” to add a new empty symbol to the Words tab.
 Select “Remove” to delete any unwanted symbols from the 
Words tab.
 Select “Open As Palette” to open the Words symbol palette.
Inserting a word
You insert words from the Words tab as you would insert 
any regular symbol, by selecting the appropriate word and 
clicking in the score. However, you can edit the word after 
inserting it, just as with text inserted by typing.
Find and replace
This function allows you to replace all occurrences of a cer-
tain word or group of words, with another word or group of 
words. The replacement is done once and for all, for all text 
symbol types, regardless of font, size and style settings. 
Proceed as follows:
1.Pull down the Scores menu and select “Find and Re-
place” from the Functions submenu.
A dialog appears.
2.Enter the word(s) to replace in the Find value field.
3.If you want all instances of the word(s) to be replaced, 
regardless of upper/lower case, deactivate the “Case 
Sensitive” option.
4.If you don’t want to replace the word(s) if they are a 
part of another word, activate the “Entire Word” option.
For example, if you want to replace the word “string” but not the word 
“stringendo”, you should activate “Entire Word”.
5.Enter the word(s) that should be used as replacement 
in the “Replace” field.
6.Click OK.
Now all occurrences of the “Find” word(s) will be replaced with the 
“Replace” word(s). 
						

							597
Working with text
Staff names
You can make settings for staff names in several places:
On the Score Settings–Layout page, you specify wheth-
er the staff names should be shown at all, and whether to 
use the names of the actual edited tracks in the score.
In a multi-track layout, you can choose for which tracks the staff names 
should be shown, by clicking in the “N” column for each track.
You specify a long and short staff name on the Score 
Settings–Staff page (Main tab).
These will be used if you don’t use the “From Tracks” option on the Score 
Settings–Layout page. The long name will be displayed for the first system 
only, and the short name for the following systems. If you want a name at 
the top of the page only, leave the “Short” name field empty.
You can select a font for staff names on the Text Settings 
subpage of the Score Settings–Project page. Proceed as 
follows:
1.Open the Score Settings–Project page and select the 
Text Settings subpage.
2.Select the Project Text tab.
3.Use the “Font for” pop-up menu to select “Staff 
Names”.
4.Select font, size and styles for the staff names (or use 
a text attribute set).
5.Click Apply and close the Score Settings dialog.
Additional staff name settings
 If you activate the option “Show Track Names to Left of staff” 
on the Notation Style subpage (Staff Names category) of the 
Score Settings–Project page, the staff names will be shown 
to the left of the staves, instead of above them.
 You can define separate subnames for the upper and the 
lower staff in a polyphonic or split system, see “Staff names” 
on page 533.
 You can fine-tune the vertical and horizontal position of staff 
names with some of the options on the Spacing subpage of 
the Score Settings–Project page.
Bar Numbers
Bar Number settings can be made in several places as 
well:
General settings
1.Open the Notation Style subpage of the Score Set-
tings–Project page.
2.Scroll down the list to the “Bar Numbers” category.
3.Use the “Show every” setting to specify how often bar 
numbers should be shown.
The options are “First Bar” (bar numbers shown for the first bar on each 
staff), “Off” (no bar numbers shown) and any number. Click in the Status 
column and use the mouse wheel to select the desired option.
4.If you like, activate the “Show Range with Multi-Rests” 
option.
When this is activated, and you have a multi-rest, the bar number at the 
beginning of the multi-rest will show a range, indicating the length of the 
multi-rest.
5.If you want the bar numbers to be displayed below the 
bar lines, activate the “Below Bar Lines” option.
6.Click Apply and close the Score Settings dialog.
Text settings
As with many of the other fixed text elements, you can se-
lect a font, size and style for bar numbers on the Text Set-
tings subpage of the Score Settings–Project page.
Spacing
On the Spacings subpage of the Score Settings–Project 
page you will find four settings that relate to bar numbers:
!If the option “Show Long Track Names on new 
Pages” is activated on the Notation Style subpage 
(Staff Names category) of the Score Settings–Project 
page, the long name will be displayed for the first sys-
tem on every page.
Option Description
First Bar Number – 
Horizontal OffsetSets the horizontal distance between the bar num-
ber and the bar line for the first bar on each staff.
First Bar Number – 
Vertical OffsetSets the vertical distance between the bar number 
and the bar line for the first bar on each staff.
Other Bar Numbers – 
Horizontal OffsetSets the horizontal distance between the bar num-
ber and the bar line for all other bars.
Other Bar Numbers – 
Vertical OffsetSets the vertical distance between the bar number 
and the bar line for all other bars. 
						

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Working with text
Offsetting bar numbers
If you double-click on a bar number, a dialog appears, al-
lowing you to skip a number of bars in the otherwise con-
tinuous bar numbering.
This is used for example when a section repeats. Say, you 
have a repeat of bar 7 and 8, and want the first bar after 
the repeat to have the number 11, not 9. To achieve this, 
you double-click on the “9” and insert an offset of “2”.
It is also useful if the score starts with an upbeat, and you 
want the first “real” bar to be numbered 1. In that case you 
would specify an offset of “-1” for the second bar, and 
make sure the bar number for the upbeat bar is hidden.
Bar number offsets belong to the Project layer and are 
shown for all tracks and layouts.
Settings for other fixed text elements
You can make text settings for virtually all text and num-
bers that appear in the score. Proceed as follows:
1.Open the Text Settings subpage of the Score Set-
tings–Project page.
2.Select the Project Text tab.
3.Use the “Font For” pop-up menu to select a text type 
to make settings for.
4.Use the options in the dialog to change the settings.5.Click Apply to apply the settings to all elements of the 
selected type.
To close the dialog, click the close button at the top right of the dialog 
window.
Bar Numbers before and after changing their text settings.
You can also define text attribute sets on the Text Set-
tings subpage, as a means to quickly change text.
Note that you can select a defined attribute set from the context menu 
opened when right-clicking on a text element (see “Text attribute sets” 
on page 591). 
						

							11
Working with layouts 
						

							600
Working with layouts
About this chapter
In this chapter you will learn:
 What layouts are and what they contain.
 How to create layouts.
 How to use layouts for opening combinations of tracks.
 How to apply, load, save and delete layouts.
 How to import and export layouts.
 An example of how layouts can be used.
Background: Layouts
Layouts can be viewed as “presets” containing settings for 
the layout layer: staff spacing, bar lines, layout symbols etc.
When to use layouts
 You will need to format the score differently when you print the 
entire score and when you extract parts for single instruments 
(or groups of instruments). Layouts allow you to keep different 
sets of “looks” for the same track or set of tracks. You might 
for example have one layout for each single instrument and 
one for the entire score.
 By selecting another layout on the Score Settings–Layout 
page, you can switch to another combination of tracks without 
having to leave the Score Editor.
What makes up a layout?
A layout contains the following items and properties:
 The inserted Layout symbols (see “The available symbols” on 
page 564).
 All settings on the Layout page of the Score Settings dialog.
 The vertical spacing of the staves.
 Bar line spacing.
 Broken bar lines.
ÖNote that Project symbols (see “The available symbols” 
on page 564), bar line types and bar number offsets are 
part of the Project layer, and will appear in all layouts.
How layouts are stored
Layouts are created automatically when you edit a single 
track or a combination of tracks. They are an integral part 
of the specific track combination, which means you do not 
have to store them separately.
Creating a layout
Layouts are created automatically when you open a new 
combination of tracks for editing.
Each track may have been edited before, individually or to-
gether with other tracks, it doesn’t matter. What matters is 
that you open precisely these tracks. For example, to cre-
ate a layout for a string quartet, select parts on the corre-
sponding tracks and press [Ctrl]/[Command]-[R].
Opening a layout
The “Open Layout” command on the Scores menu opens 
a dialog listing all available layouts for the Project. 
Select the desired layout in the list and click OK to open 
the tracks contained in the layout in the Score editor.
This is a quick way for opening several tracks in the Score editor directly 
from the Project window.
Layout operations
The Score Settings dialog contains a Layout page, where 
you can make settings for the different layouts. To the left 
of the dialog, all existing layouts in the project are listed 
(this is the same list as in the Open Layout dialog, see 
above). The layout currently used is highlighted in the list.
The Score Settings–Layout page.
!The order of the tracks does not matter – you can re-
order them in the Project window without removing 
the layout. However, the spacing of the staves in the 
layout is related to the order of the tracks. 
						

							601
Working with layouts
Here you can perform a number of operations:
Opening the tracks in a layout
To select another combination of tracks for editing, select 
the corresponding layout in the list.
You can keep the dialog open while you are editing, and 
use this function for selecting which tracks to edit.
Importing layout symbols
By selecting another layout and selecting “Get Form” from 
the Functions pop-up menu below the list, you import all 
Layout symbols (inserted from the Layout symbol Inspector 
section) from the selected layout into the current layout.
Managing layouts
To rename a layout, select it in the list and enter the de-
sired name in the Name field to the right in the dialog.
Initially, a layout gets the name of one of the edited tracks – it may be a 
good idea to give each layout a more informative name.
To remove a layout you no longer need, select it in the 
list and select “Remove” in the Functions pop-up menu.
To remove all layouts for which there no longer are track 
combinations, select “Clean Up” from the Functions pop-
up menu.
Importing and exporting layouts
By selecting a layout and selecting “Export…” or “Im-
port…” from the Functions pop-up menu below the list, 
you can export or import a Layout. Note, that all Staff set-
tings will be taken into account, when exporting or import-
ing a layout.
Working with Display Transpose
You can specify for each staff in a layout whether it should 
use display transpose. Just click in the D column in the 
Score Settings–Layout page to activate or deactivate the 
option. Note that this setting affects this layout only!
Using layouts – an example
The following text outlines the basic steps for extracting a 
musical part from a full score.
1.Prepare the entire score, including all formatting.
This might include inserting Project layer Block Text for the Score title, 
setting the bar line type, etc.
2.Open the Score Settings–Layout page and enter the 
desired name in the Name field (for example “Full Score”).
3.Close the Score Editor.
4.Open a single track, for example a woodwind part.
The Project layer settings will automatically appear in the new single 
track layout.
5.Prepare a layout for the woodwind part.
You might for example move bar lines, add endings, activate multiple rests, 
etc. 
						

							602
Working with layouts
You can also import all layout symbols from the “Full 
Score” layout, by opening the Score Settings–Layout 
page, selecting the “Full Score” layout in the list to the left 
and selecting “Get Form” from the Functions pop-up 
menu (see “Importing layout symbols” on page 601).
6.Enter the desired name for the new layout in the Name 
field on the Score Settings–Layout page and click “Apply”.
Marker Track to Form
If you have created markers in the Project window which 
denote the start of each new “section” in your music 
(verse, bridge, chorus, etc.), you can automatically transfer 
these markers into the current layout:
1.Pull down the Scores menu and open the Advanced 
Layout submenu.
2.Select “Marker Track to Form”.
Now, rehearsal markers and double bar lines are inserted in the score, at 
the position of each marker.
3.If you want the names of the markers shown as well, 
open the Advanced Layout submenu again and select 
“Display Markers”.
!Be careful not to change any of the properties which 
are not part of the layout (or you will modify the “Full 
Score”, too!). 
						

							12
Working with MusicXML 
						

							604
Working with MusicXML
Introduction
MusicXML is a music notation format developed by Recor-
dare LLC in 2000 based primarily on two academic music 
formats. It allows the representation of scores in the cur-
rent symbolic representation of western music notation, 
used since the 17th century. With Cubase you can now 
import and export MusicXML files created with version 
1.1. This makes it possible to share and exchange sheet 
music with people who are using score writing programs 
such as Finale and Sibelius.
ÖAs MusicXML is supported to various degrees by dif-
ferent programs, you will always have to do manual adjust-
ments.
What is MusicXML used for?
The MusicXML file format can be used for the following 
purposes:
 Representation and printing of sheet music
 Exchange of sheet music between various score writing 
programs 
 Electronic distribution of musical scores 
 Storage and archival of scores in an electronic format 
Notational representation vs. musical performance
MusicXML is a music notation file format, that means it 
deals especially with the layout of music notation and the 
correct graphical representation, i.e. how a piece of music 
should look. 
However, MusicXML music data also contains elements 
that define how a piece of music should sound. These are 
used e.g. when creating a MIDI file from MusicXML. This 
means that MusicXML has things in common with MIDI. 
MIDI is a music interchange format for performance appli-
cations like Cubase or other sequencers. The MIDI file for-
mat is designed for playback, i.e. the main focus of the MIDI 
file format lies in the performance, not in the notation. 
Is MusicXML better than MIDI?
Advantages of MusicXML
MIDI tracks hold MIDI notes and other MIDI data. A MIDI 
note in Cubase is only defined by its position, length, pitch 
and velocity. This is not enough to decide how the note 
should be displayed in a score. For a correct representa-
tion, Cubase also needs the following information:
 Stem direction, beaming.
 Expression marks (staccato, accent, ties and slurs). 
 Information about the instrument in the score.
 Key and basic rhythm of the piece.
 Grouping of notes, etc.
MusicXML can store great part of this information. How-
ever, you will have to adjust the scores with the tools avail-
able in the Score Editor.
Advantages of MIDI
MusicXML was designed for online sheet music while 
MIDI was created for electronic musical instruments. Al-
though MusicXML has obvious advantages in the repre-
sentation of musical scores, there are also restrictions in 
sound. This is due to the fact that MusicXML as a music 
notation format has a graphical background and is de-
signed for exchanging representation, not sound. 
When playing back MusicXML files in Cubase, the follow-
ing parameters, among others, will not be considered:
 On and Off velocities

 Controller data

 Standard MIDI file meta events

 All Cubase-specific data like automation, MIDI effects, Input 
Transformer, etc. 
						

							605
Working with MusicXML
Importing and exporting MusicXML 
files
Cubase can import and export MusicXML Files, which 
makes it possible to transfer musical scores to and from 
applications that support this file format. However, there 
are some restrictions concerning the parameters sup-
ported by Cubase:
Importing MusicXML files
1.Pull down the File menu and open the Import submenu.
2.On the submenu, select “Music XML…”.
3.In the file dialog that opens, locate and select the Mu-
sicXML file and click “Open”.
4.Another file dialog opens in which you can select the 
project folder for the new project.
Select an existing project folder or create a new one by clicking on “Cre-
ate” and entering a name in the dialog.
5.A new project is created with the name of the of the 
MusicXML file.
Export Import
Notes
Pitch Yes Yes
Length Yes Yes
Staves Yes Up to two per part
Voices Yes Up to four per staff
Accidentals Yes Yes
Ties Yes No
Dots Yes No
Stem Yes Yes
Beams Yes No
Grace Notes Yes Yes
Rests Yes Yes
Layout
Page Size Yes No
Page margins Yes  Yes
Page scaling Yes Yes
Page breaks Yes No
System breaks Yes Yes
Distance between 
staves and systemsYes Yes
Left/right Inset Yes No
Distance between 
measuresYes No
Hidden staves Yes Yes
x and y positions of 
symbolsYes Yes
Symbols
Keys Yes Yes
Clefs Yes Yes
Time Signature Yes Yes
Dynamics Yes Yes
Ornaments Yes / incomplete Yes / incomplete
Articulations Yes / incomplete Yes / incomplete
Technicals Yes / incomplete Yes / incomplete
Lyrics Yes Yes
Chord Symbols Yes Yes
Damper Pedal Yes Yes
Dynamics Yes Yes
Rehearsals Yes Yes
Text Yes Yes
Layout Text Yes N.A.
Global Text Yes “Credits”
Dashes Yes Yes
Endings Yes Yes
Octave Shift Yes Yes
Bar line types Yes Yes
Slurs Yes Yes
Hammer-on/pull-off No No
Formatting
Display transpose Yes Yes
Drum notation Yes Yes
Short / long staff names Yes Yes
Program changes Yes N.A.
Music font Yes (if Jazz font) Yes
Tablature (including 
String tunings)Yes Yes
Drum notation Yes YesExport Import