Steinberg Cubase SX/SL 3 Score Layout And Printing Manual

							CUBASE SXWorking with symbols 8 – 201
The “Other” palette
Lyrics and text symbols are described in the chapter “Working with text”. 
Chord symbols are described on page 210.
Pedal down and up symbols
When you insert a Pedal down or up symbol, you will also insert an ac-
tual MIDI event (damper pedal, control change 64) at that position. 
Similarly, inserting or recording a damper pedal event in another edi-
tor will display a pedal down/up symbol in the score.
•If the option “Hide Pedal Markers” is activated on the Switches tab in 
the Notation Style dialog (Scores–Global Settings submenu), 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 instrument other than piano).
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 hidden (for more info on hiding 
symbols, see page 250).
Box (rectangle) symbol
This is a “generic” box symbol, which may be useful for different pur-
poses. 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 visible.
The box symbol is available in the “Other” and “Layout” palettes.
The keyboard symbol
This is described on page 177. 
						

							CUBASE SX8 – 202 Working with symbols
The “Layout” palette
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 labelled 1 or A 
(depending which you chose in the palette), the second will then auto-
matically be labelled 2 or B, the next 3 or C etc. If you delete one, the 
labelling of the others 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 
dialog (Global Text tab) on the Scores–Global Settings submenu.
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 part 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 Set-
tings dialog on the Scores – Global Settings menu (see page 237).
•To have these symbols actually affect playback, insert them from the 
Global Symbols palette and use the Play Order mode.
See page 294.  
						

							CUBASE SXWorking with symbols 8 – 203
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 on the existing number and enter any text you like.
Endings are available both in the Layout palette (for the layout layer), the 
Global Symbols palette (for the global layer) and the Line/Trill palette 
(for the note layer). Which one to choose depends on the score; while 
it’s handy to insert endings once and for all as global symbols, this 
won’t allow you to make individual 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 on it, a menu appears that allows you to 
select any note value. The number then changes accordingly.
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 on it. A pop-
up with the available note values appears. 
						

							CUBASE SX8 – 204 Working with symbols
User Symbols
The User Symbols palette lets you create your own graphic symbols 
and use these in the score. 
Creating a user symbol
Initially, the User Symbols palette is empty. To create symbols you use 
the User Symbols editor:
1.Double click on the empty symbol field in the palette.
The User Symbols editor opens.
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 sec-
tion corresponds to the actual User Symbols palette, 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.  
						

							CUBASE SXWorking with symbols 8 – 205
•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 palette for the 
project. You can also export symbols and palettes to disk, for use in other projects, see 
below.
•To insert a user symbol into the score, click or double-click it in the 
palette 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] 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 polygon should 
be and close the figure by clicking outside the drawing area.
Circle Creates a circle.
Ellipse Creates an ellipse.
Arc Creates an arc.
Text Allows you to insert text objects. Clicking with this tool in the draw-
ing area opens a dialog where you enter the text, specify font, style, 
etc. You can double click on a text object 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.
Fill Click this if you want the object to be filled – you can then select a 
Fill Color for it by clicking the Fill Color button and using the Colors 
pop-up menu.
No Fill Click this if you don’t want the object to be filled. 
						

							CUBASE SX8 – 206 Working with symbols
The Note Linked pop-up lets you create symbols linked to note posi-
tions. This affects the whole symbol, not a selected 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 
palette):
Frame Color When this is selected, the Colors pop-up menu selects the color for 
the object frame.
Fill Color When this is selected, the Colors pop-up menu selects the fill color 
for objects (if Fill is selected)
Colors pop-up Selects Frame or Fill Color for objects. The “Select Colors...” menu 
item brings up a standard color dialog.
Line Width Allows you to change the line width used for drawing 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 palette (and to the symbol list 
to the left in the editor).
Delete Symbol Deletes the current symbol from the palette.
Export Pool... Allows you to save the current palette as a separate file on disk.
Import Pool... Loads a complete palette from disk. Note that this replaces the 
current palette.
Export/Import 
Symbol...Lets you save or load individual symbols to/from disk. Importing 
a symbol replaces the current symbol in the palette.
Delete Deletes the selected object(s).
Select All Selects all objects in the current symbol. Tool Description 
						

							CUBASE SXWorking with symbols 8 – 207
Transform – 
Scale SymbolLets you scale (resize) the selected object by specifying a per-
centage.
Transform – Mirror 
horizontal/verticalMirrors the selected object along the horizontal or vertical axis.
Transform – Flip ± 90 Rotates the selected object by + or – 90 degrees.
Draw – Group Groups the selected objects so that they are treated as one.
Draw – Ungroup Ungroups 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.
Align Aligns the selected objects to each other.
View Sets the zoom factor for the drawing area. Menu item Description 
						

							CUBASE SX8 – 208 Working with symbols 
						

							9
Working with chords 
						

							CUBASE SX9 – 210 Working with chords
Chord symbols
Inserting chord symbols manually
How to use the Pencil tool and the symbol palette to enter symbols is 
described in general in the chapter “Working with symbols”.
When you insert a chord symbol, a dialog is opened where you can 
specify the type of chord.
The Edit Chord Symbol dialog.
1.Enter the key (root) note in the Key Note field.
You can either type in a chord letter or select a note from the pop-up menu to the right.
2.Specify a chord type in the “Type” field.
You can either type it in (for example, by typing a “7”) or select an option from the pop-
up menu to the right.