Steinberg Cubase SX/SL 3 Operation Manual
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![Page 548
CUBASE SX/SL24 – 548 The MIDI editors
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...](http://img.usermanuals.tech/thumb/86/103328/w64_Operation_Manual_d-547.png "Page 548
CUBASE SX/SL24 – 548 The MIDI editors
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...")
![Page 549
CUBASE SX/SLThe MIDI editors 24 – 549
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 activated,
this determines to which positions you can move the notes, see page 612.
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...](http://img.usermanuals.tech/thumb/86/103328/w64_Operation_Manual_d-548.png "Page 549
CUBASE SX/SLThe MIDI editors 24 – 549
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 activated,
this determines to which positions you can move the notes, see page 612.
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...")
![Page 550
CUBASE SX/SL24 – 550 The MIDI editors
•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...](http://img.usermanuals.tech/thumb/86/103328/w64_Operation_Manual_d-549.png "Page 550
CUBASE SX/SL24 – 550 The MIDI editors
•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...")
CUBASE SX/SLThe MIDI editors 24 – 551 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, the resulting length will be a multiple of the Length Quantize value on the toolbar. •Use the Trim Start/End buttons on the Nudge palette on the toolbar. This resizes the selected note(s) by moving their start or end positions, in steps ac- cording to the Length Quantize value on the toolbar. By default, the Nudge palette isn’t shown on the toolbar – see page 767 for more info. •Select the note and adjust its length on the info line. See page 553 for details on info line editing. Splitting notes There are three ways to split notes: •Clicking on a note with the Scissors tool splits the note at the position you pointed (taking the Snap setting into account if activated). If several notes are selected, they are all split at the same position if applicable. •If you select “Split at Cursor”, all notes that are intersected by the project cursor are split at the cursor position. •If you select “Split Loop”, all notes that are intersected by the left or right locator are split at the locator positions. Gluing notes Clicking on a note with the Glue Tube tool will “glue it together” with the next note of the same pitch. The result will be one long note span- ning from the start of the first note to the end of the second note, and with the properties (velocity, etc.) of the first note.
CUBASE SX/SL24 – 552 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 command for this is [Shift]+[M]. Muted notes are “dimmed” in the note display. To unmute a note, either click it or enclose it with the Mute tool, or se- lect it and choose Unmute from the Edit menu. The default key com- mand for this is [Shift]+[U]. Deleting notes To delete notes, either click on them with the Eraser tool or select them and press [Backspace].
CUBASE SX/SLThe MIDI editors 24 – 553 Editing on the info line The info line shows the values and properties of the selected event(s). If a single event is selected, its values are displayed on the info line. If several events are selected, the info line shows the values of the first of these events, in yellow. Several events selected. 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 velocity 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 other words, the value will be changed by an equal amount for all selected events. • If you have several events selected, hold down [Ctrl]/[Command] and change a value, the change will be absolute. In other words, the value setting will be the same for all selected events.
CUBASE SX/SL24 – 554 The MIDI editors Editing Notes via MIDI You can change the properties of notes via MIDI. For example, this can be a fast way to get the right velocity value, since you will hear the result even as you edit: 1.Select the note you want to edit. 2.Click on the MIDI connector symbol on the toolbar. The symbol should be lit. This enables editing via MIDI. 3.Use the note buttons on the toolbar to decide which properties should be changed by the MIDI input. You can enable editing of pitch, note-on and/or note-off velocity. With this setting, the edited notes will get the pitch and velocity values of the notes input via MIDI, but the note-off velocities will be kept as they are. 4.Play a note on your MIDI instrument. The note selected in the editor will get the pitch, velocity and/or note-off velocity of the played note. 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.
CUBASE SX/SLThe MIDI editors 24 – 555 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 record but are not able to play it exactly as you want it. Proceed as follows: 1.Click the Step Input button on the toolbar to activate Step Input mode. 2.Use the note buttons to the right to decide which properties should be included when you input the notes. For example, you may not want to include the velocity and/or note-off velocity of the played notes. It’s also possible to turn off the pitch property, in which case all notes will get the pitch C3, no matter what you play. 3.Click anywhere in the note display to set the start position (the de- sired position of the first note or chord). The step input position is shown as a blue line in the note display, and in the lower mouse pointer display in the toolbar. 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.
CUBASE SX/SL24 – 556 The MIDI editors 5.Play the first note or chord on your MIDI instrument. The note or chord appears in the editor and the step input position advances one quantize value step. • If Insert mode is activated, all notes to the right of the step input posi- tion will be moved to “make room” for the inserted note or chord. Insert mode activated. 6.Continue in the same way with the rest of the notes or chords. You can adjust the Quantize or Length Quantize value as you go along, to change the timing or note lengths. You can also move the step input position manually by clicking anywhere in the note display. •To insert a “rest”, press the right arrow key on the computer keyboard. This advances the step input position one step. 7.When you’re done, click the Step Input button again to deactivate step input.
CUBASE SX/SLThe MIDI editors 24 – 557 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 “Cre- ate 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 and select “Remove this Lane” from the Quick menu. This hides the lane from view – it doesn’t affect the events in any way. • If you remove all lanes, the controller display will be completely hidden. To bring it back again, select “Create new controller lane” from the Quick menu.
CUBASE SX/SL24 – 558 The MIDI editors 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 con- tinuous 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 used. Controller types in this list are already listed on the pop- up menu.Controller types in this list are not listed on the pop-up menu. Click this button to add the selected controller type to the pop-up menu. Click this button to remove the control- ler type selected in the left list from the pop-up menu.
CUBASE SX/SLThe MIDI editors 24 – 559 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 lower left corner of the editor window and select “Add”. Enter a name for the preset in the dialog that appears and click OK. •To apply a stored preset, select it from the pop-up menu. This immediately brings up the controller lanes and event types in the preset. •To remove or rename presets, select “Organize” from the pop-up. Editing velocity values When “Velocity” is selected for viewing, the lane shows the velocity of each note as a vertical bar. Velocity values are edited with the Pencil or the Line tool. The different tools and Line tool modes offer several possibilities, as listed below. • If the option “Controller Lane Editing: Select Tool defaults to Pen” is ac- tivated in the Preferences dialog (Editing page), the Arrow tool automat- ically switches to the Pencil tool when you move the pointer into the controller display. If you need to use the Arrow tool to select events in the controller display, press [Ctrl]/ [Command].
CUBASE SX/SL24 – 560 The MIDI editors • 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 several notes by painting a “freehand curve”. When editing velocity, these two methods have the same functionality. • Use the Line tool’s Line mode for creating linear velocity ramps. Click where you want the ramp to start and drag the cursor to where you want the ramp to end. When you release the mouse button, the velocity values are aligned with the line between the two points.