Steinberg Cubase SX/SL 3 Operation Manual

							CUBASE SX/SLThe MIDI editors 24 – 581
The channel and output settings
You can set separate MIDI channels and/or MIDI outputs for each 
sound in a drum map. The following rules apply:
• When a drum map is selected for a track, the MIDI channel settings in the 
drum map override the MIDI channel setting for the track.
In other words, the MIDI channel setting you make in the Track list or Inspector for the 
track is normally disregarded. If you want a drum sound to use the channel of the track, 
set it to channel “Any” in the drum map.
• If the MIDI output is set to “default” for a sound in a drum map, the sound will 
use the MIDI output selected for the track.
Selecting any other option allows you to direct the sound to a specific MIDI output.
By making specific MIDI channel and output settings for all sounds in 
a drum map, you can direct your drum tracks directly to another MIDI 
instrument simply by selecting another drum map – you don’t need to 
make any channel or output changes for the actual track.
• To select the same MIDI channel for all sounds in a drum map, click the 
Channel column, press [Ctrl]/[Command] and select the desired channel.
All drum sounds will be set to this MIDI channel. The same procedure can be used for 
selecting the same MIDI output for all sounds as well.
It can also be useful to select different channels and/or outputs for dif-
ferent sounds. This allows you to construct drum kits with sounds 
from several different MIDI devices, etc. 
						

							CUBASE SX/SL24 – 582 The MIDI editors
Managing drum maps
Selecting a drum map for a track
To select a drum map for a MIDI track, use the Map pop-up menu in 
the Inspector or in the Drum Editor:
Selecting “No Drum Map” turns off the drum map functionality in the 
Drum Editor. Even if you don’t use a drum map, you can still separate 
sounds by name using a name list (see page 585).
Initially, the Map pop-up menu will only contain one map: “GM Map”. 
However, you will find a number of drum maps included on the program 
DVD – how to load these is described below. 
						

							CUBASE SX/SLThe MIDI editors 24 – 583
The Drum Map Setup dialog
To set up and manage your drum maps, select Drum Map Setup from 
the Map pop-up menus or the MIDI menu. This opens the following 
dialog:
This is where you load, create, modify and save drum maps. The list to 
the left shows the currently loaded drum maps; selecting a drum map 
in the list displays its sounds and settings to the right.
• The settings for the drum sounds are exactly the same as in the Drum 
Editor (see page 577).
As in the Drum Editor, you can click the leftmost column to audition a drum sound. 
Note: if you audition a sound in the Drummap Setup dialog, and the sound is set to 
MIDI output “Default”, the output selected on the Default pop-up menu in the lower left 
corner will be used. When auditioning a Default output sound in the Drum Editor, the 
MIDI output selected for the track will be used, as described on page 581. 
						

							CUBASE SX/SL24 – 584 The MIDI editors
Below the drum sound list you will find a number of buttons, with the 
following functionality:
• Drum maps are saved with the project files. If you have created or mod-
ified a drum map, you should use the Save function to store it as a sep-
arate file, available for loading into other projects.
If you always want to have the same drum map(s) included in your projects, you may 
want to load these into the default project – see page 736.
Button Description
New Map Click this to add a new drum map to the project. The drum sounds will 
be named “Sound 1, Sound 2” and so on, and have all parameters set 
to default values. The map will be named “Empty Map”, but you can re-
name it by clicking and typing in the list.
New Copy Adds a copy of the currently selected drum map. This is probably the 
quickest way to create a new drum map: select the map that is similar 
to what you want, create a copy, change the desired drum sound set-
tings and rename the map in the list.
Remove Removes the selected drum map from the project.
Load Opens a file dialog, allowing you to load drum maps from disk. On the 
Cubase SX/SL DVD you will find a number of drum maps for different 
MIDI instruments – use this function to load the desired maps into your 
project.
Save Opens a file dialog for saving the drum map selected in the list. If you 
have created or modified a drum map, you should use this function to 
save it as a file on disk – this allows you to load it into other projects. 
Drum map files have the extension “.drm”.
Assign Click this button to assign the selected drum map to the current MIDI 
track (only available if a MIDI track was selected when you opened the 
Drum Map Setup dialog). This is the same as selecting the drum map 
from the Map pop-up menu.
OK Closes the dialog. 
						

							CUBASE SX/SLThe MIDI editors 24 – 585
O-Note Conversion
This function on the MIDI menu goes through the selected MIDI part(s) 
and sets the actual pitch of each note according to its O-note setting. 
This is useful if you want to convert the track to a “regular” MIDI track 
(with no drum map) and still have the notes play back the correct drum 
sound. A typical application is if you want to export your MIDI recording 
as a standard MIDI file (see page 744) – by first performing an O-Note 
Conversion you make sure that your drum tracks play back as they 
should when they are exported.
Using drum name lists
Even if no drum map is selected for the edited MIDI track, you can still 
use the Drum Editor if needed. As previously mentioned, the drum 
sound list will then only have four columns: Audition, Pitch, Instrument 
(drum sound names) and Quantize. There will be no I-note and O-
note functionality.
In this mode, the names shown in the Instrument column depend on 
the selection on the Names pop-up menu, just below the Map pop-up 
in the Drum Editor.
The options on this pop-up menu are the currently loaded drum maps 
plus a “GM Default” item which is always available. This means you 
can use the drum sound names in any loaded drum map without using 
I-notes and O-notes, should you so like. 
						

							CUBASE SX/SL24 – 586 The MIDI editors
The List Editor – Overview
The toolbar
The toolbar contains several items that are the same as in the Key 
Editor (edit solo, snap, quantize settings, etc.). These are described 
earlier in this chapter. The following toolbar items are unique to the 
List Editor:
• The Insert pop-up menu is used when creating new events.
This is where you determine what type of event to add (see page 588).
• The Mask pop-up menu and Filter view (Show Filter View button) allow you to 
hide events from view, based on their type and other properties.
See page 590.
•The Value View button can be used for hiding and showing the Value 
display (see below).
The List Editor has no info line (numerical editing is available in the list 
instead).
The list
This lists all events in the currently selected MIDI part(s), in the order 
(from top to bottom) they are played back. You can edit the event 
properties by using regular value editing, as described on page 588.  
						

							CUBASE SX/SLThe MIDI editors 24 – 587
The event display
This shows the events graphically. The vertical position of an event in 
the display corresponds to its entry in the list (i.e. to the playback or-
der), while the horizontal position corresponds to its actual position in 
the project. This is where you add new parts or events, drag to move 
them, etc.
The value display
This display shows the “value” of each event, allowing for easy view-
ing and graphical editing. Typically, the value shown is the “Data 2” or 
“Value 2” property (amounts for MIDI controller events, velocity for 
notes, etc.). You can show or hide this display by clicking the “Show 
List Value View” button on the toolbar.
List Editor operations
Customizing the view
You can click and drag the divider between the list and the event dis-
play to make one area wider and the other narrower. Furthermore, the 
list can be customized in the following ways:
• You can change the order of the columns by dragging the column headings.
• You can resize columns by dragging the dividers between the column headings.
Setting the display format
Just like in the Project window, you set the display format (bars+beats, 
seconds, etc.) by right-clicking (Windows) or [Ctrl]-clicking (Mac) in 
the ruler and selecting an option from the pop-up menu. This setting af-
fects both the ruler and all start, end and length values shown in the list.
Zooming
You can change the horizontal magnification in the event display by us-
ing the zoom slider below the display or the Magnification Glass tool. 
						

							CUBASE SX/SL24 – 588 The MIDI editors
Adding events
To add a new event to the edited part, proceed as follows:
1.Use the Insert pop-up menu on the toolbar to select the event type.
2.Select the Pencil tool and click in the event display, at the desired 
position (relative to the ruler).
If you are creating note events, you can click and drag to set the length of the note.
The new event appears in the list and in the display. Its properties will 
be set to default values, but can easily be adjusted in the list.
•Notes you enter will get the insert velocity value set in the insert veloc-
ity field on the toolbar. See page 547.
Editing in the list
The list allows you to perform detailed numerical editing of the events’ 
properties. The columns have the following functionality:
Column Description
L Locate column. An arrow in this column indicates the event that starts 
closest before the project cursor position. If you click in this column for an 
event, the project cursor is moved to the start of that event. Double click-
ing moves the cursor position and starts/stops playback – useful for au-
ditioning when editing in the list.
Type The event type. This cannot be changed.
Start The start position of the event, shown in the format selected for the ruler. 
Changing this is the same as moving the event. Note that moving the 
event past any other event in the list will re-sort the list (the list always 
shows the events in the order they are played back).
End This is only used for note events, allowing you to view and edit the end 
position of a note (thereby resizing it).
Length This is only used for note events. It shows the length of the note – chang-
ing this resizes the note and automatically changes the End value as well. 
						

							CUBASE SX/SLThe MIDI editors 24 – 589
•You can edit several events at once. If several events are selected and 
you edit a value for one event, the other selected events’ values will be 
changed as well.
Normally, any initial value differences between the events will be maintained – i.e. the 
values will change by the same amount. If you press [Ctrl]/[Command] when you edit, 
however, all events will get the same value.
• For SysEx (system exclusive) events, you can only edit the position 
(Start) in the list.
However, clicking the Comment column opens the MIDI SysEx Editor, in which you 
can perform detailed editing of system exclusive events – this is described in the sep-
arate “MIDI Devices and Features” pdf.
Editing in the event display
The event display allows you to edit the events graphically using the 
tools on the toolbar. You can edit single events as well as several se-
lected events simultaneously.
•To move an event, click and drag it to a new position.
Note that moving the event past any other event in the display will re-sort the list (the 
list always shows the events in the order they are played back). As a result, the vertical 
position of the event in the display will change as well.
•To make a copy of an event, press [Alt]/[Option] and drag it to a new 
position.
Data 1 This is the “data 1” or “value 1” property of the event. The content of this 
depends on the event type – for notes, this is the pitch, for example. 
Where applicable, the values are shown in the most relevant form. For in-
stance, the Data 1 value for notes is shown as a note number in the for-
mat selected in the Preferences dialog (Event Display–MIDI page). See 
also the table on page 593.
Data 2 This is the “data 2” or “value 2” property of the event. The content of this 
depends on the event type – for notes, this is the velocity value, for exam-
ple. See the table on page 593.
Channel The MIDI channel of the event. Note that this setting is normally overrid-
den by the channel setting for the track. To make a MIDI event play back 
on “its own” channel, set its track to channel “Any” in the Project window.
Comment This column is used for some event types only, providing an additional 
comment about the event. Column Description 
						

							CUBASE SX/SL24 – 590 The MIDI editors
•To resize a note, select it and drag its end point with the Arrow tool as 
in the Project window.
This only works with notes.
•To mute or unmute an event, click on it with the Mute tool.
You can mute or unmute several events in one go by enclosing them in a selection 
rectangle with the Mute tool.
•You can select a color scheme for the events with the Colors pop-up 
menu on the toolbar.
This affects how all MIDI events are shown in the List, Key and Drum editors – see 
page 613.
•To delete an event, select it and press [Backspace] or [Delete], or 
click on it with the Eraser tool in the event display.
Filtering
Clicking the “Show Filter View” button on the toolbar opens an addi-
tional filter bar that allows you to hide specific event types from view. 
For example, it may be hard to find note events if the part contains a 
lot of controllers. By hiding these the list becomes more manageable.
To hide an event type, tick its checkbox on the filter view. To see one 
event type only (hide all other event types), press [Ctrl]/[Command] 
and click its checkbox. If you [Ctrl]/[Command]-click again, all check-
boxes are cleared (all events will be visible).
• The event types remain hidden even if you close the filter view.
To make sure you see all events, open the filter view and check that all checkboxes are 
deactivated.
• The filter view does not remove, mute or in any other way change the 
events.