Steinberg Cubase SX/SL 3 Score Layout And Printing Manual

4
Entering and editing notes using
the mouse 

CUBASE SX4 – 62 Entering and editing notes using the mouse
In this chapter you will learn:
• How to make various settings for how notes are displayed.
• How to enter notes by using the mouse.
• How to use tools and settings to make the score as legible as possible.
• How to set up a split (piano) staff.
• How to work with multiple staves.
Staff settings
Before you start entering notes, you need to make some initial staff 
settings in addition to those described in the chapter “The basics”. To 
understand...

CUBASE SXEntering and editing notes using the mouse 4 – 63
Applying settings and selecting other staves
The Staff Settings dialog is non-modal (see page 31). This means you 
click Apply to apply the settings you’ve made to the active staff.
To make settings for another staff, simply make it active in the score 
(by clicking anywhere in the staff or by using the up/down arrow keys 
on the computer keyboard). However, please note:
• Remember to click Apply before making another staff active – otherwise...

CUBASE SX4 – 64 Entering and editing notes using the mouse
Suggested initial settings
When you start out entering notes using the mouse, your staff settings 
should make your score display the notes as entered. We suggest the 
following:
You will find out later how to adapt these settings in detail to make the 
score read as you want it to.
• It is very important that you understand how the display quantize values 
for notes and rests interact with the score. If you select too large a 
notes/rests value,...

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Note values and positions
Two of the most important settings for entering notes (and the ones 
you will change most often) are the length of the note (the note value) 
and the minimum spacing between notes (the quantize value).
Selecting a note value for input
This can be done in one of three ways:
• By clicking the note symbols on the extended toolbar.
You can select any note value from 1/1 to 1/64th and turn on and off the dotted and 
triplet...

CUBASE SX4 – 66 Entering and editing notes using the mouse
Selecting a display quantize value
When you move the mouse pointer over the score, you will see that 
the position box on the toolbar tracks your movement and shows the 
current position in bars, beats, sixteenth notes and ticks.
Positioning on screen is controlled by the current quantize value. If 
you for example set this to “1/8 Note” you can only insert and move 
notes to eighth note positions, at quarter notes, at half bars or at bar...

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The “mouse position box”
While you will most often use the graphical position in the actual score 
to determine where the notes go, there are instances when you will 
want to verify the position numerically using the mouse position box:
The upper field shows the pitch according to the vertical position of 
the pointer in a staff. The lower field shows the “musical position” in 
bars, beats, sixteenth notes and ticks:
• The relation between beats...

CUBASE SX4 – 68 Entering and editing notes using the mouse
Adding and editing notes
Entering one note by dragging
To add a note to the score, proceed as follows:
1.Make the staff active.
Notes are always put in on the active staff. See page 25 for details.
2.Select the type of note by selecting a note value.
This is described in detail above.
3.If you selected the note value by clicking on a symbol on the extended 
toolbar, the Insert Note tool was automatically selected – otherwise 
select the Insert...

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Clicking directly
When you get better acquainted with the Score Editor and find it easy 
to aim at the right position directly, you don’t need to drag the note 
around as described above. Simply aim at the correct position and 
click once.
If you have problems getting the pitch right
•Normally, you are allowed to “draw” notes with any pitch. But if the op-
tion “Keep moved notes within key” is activated in the Preferences–
Scores dialog, the...

CUBASE SX4 – 70 Entering and editing notes using the mouse
• If two notes beginning at the same position have different lengths, the longer 
will be displayed as a number of tied notes. To avoid this, you will either have 
to use the “No Overlap” feature (see page 48) or polyphonic voicing (see 
page 101).
• One note will often be displayed as two notes with a tie. This is only how the 
program displays the note, there is still only a single note “stored”.
This single note in the Key Editor is displayed...