Steinberg Cubase SX/SL 3 Score Layout And Printing Manual

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Transcribing MIDI recordings 
						

							CUBASE SX3 – 42 Transcribing MIDI recordings
In this chapter you will learn:
• How to make initial staff settings to make a score as legible as possible.
• How to use the Display Quantize tool to handle “exceptions” in the score.
• How to resolve parts that contain mixed notes and triplets.
About transcription
This chapter assumes you have a MIDI recording that you want to 
transform into a printable score. However, if the parts are fairly compli-
cated, you will probably need to perform some manual editing of the 
notes. Hence you will need to read the next chapter, too!
❐Before starting, make sure you understand the basic principles behind 
the score notes/MIDI notes relationship and also what display quantize 
is, as described in the chapter “How the Score Editor works”.
Getting the parts ready
1.Record the music.
You must definitely play in time with the click.
2.Play back to check that the music was recorded as intended.
If not, you might need to re-record or perform some editing.
3.Decide how much permanent alteration to the recording you can ac-
cept to make the score look good.
If the answer is “none”, you should prepare your score from a copy of the track. See 
the next section below.
4.Select all parts (on all tracks) that you wish to work on.
5.Select Open Score Editor from the MIDI menu.
6.Switch to Page Mode. 
						

							CUBASE SXTranscribing MIDI recordings 3 – 43
Strategies: Preparing parts for score printout
Below follow a few tips that you might want to refer to when preparing 
a piece for printout:
• If a part is complex, you may have to do some “manual” editing of notes, like 
moving them or changing their lengths (see next chapter). This means that the 
recording will not play back exactly as it originally did. If this is a problem, we 
suggest you work on a copy of the recording. Use the Duplicate Track func-
tion on the Track list’s Quick menu to create a version of the track for scoring. 
Rename the track and mute the original track while you are preparing the 
score. You could of course also work on a copy of the entire project file.
• For reasons described in the previous chapter, quantizing the track might be a 
good idea. This will reduce the amount of detailed adjustments needed in the 
Score Editor. Remember that you can always prepare the score from copies 
of the original tracks, as described above.
• If you need to quantize, always play back your tracks afterwards to make sure 
timing wasn’t disrupted due to inappropriate quantize settings. You might 
have to quantize some sections with one value and others with another.
• If the piece contains many repetitions, it might be quicker to initially just record 
one instance of each of them. If you then finish the score work on each sec-
tion, you can assemble the entire piece by working with parts in the project 
window. This might save you some time since you may have to perform de-
tailed adjustments to each section only once.
• A similar approach can also be used when you are creating sections where 
several instruments play the same rhythm (a horn section, for example): 
Record the first instrument and make adjustments so that it looks like it should 
in the Score Editor. Then copy the part to the other tracks, and change the 
pitches of the notes using MIDI input. Finally, go through the copied parts and 
make fine adjustments, change display transpose settings, etc. This can be a 
very fast way to create polyphonic parts with complicated rhythms.
• There may also be situations when the quickest way to record a part for several 
instruments is to simply record it in one go, by playing the chords on your MIDI 
instrument. If you later want to split the recording into separate tracks or poly-
phonic voices, you can use the Explode function, as described on page 57. 
						

							CUBASE SX3 – 44 Transcribing MIDI recordings
Staff settings
The first thing to do after opening the Score Editor is to make initial 
staff settings. There are three ways to open the Staff Settings dialog:
•Make the staff active, pull down the Scores menu and select “Setup” 
from the Staff Settings submenu.
•Double click to the left of the staff.
•Make the staff active and click the “i” button on the extended toolbar.
For this to work, make sure no notes or symbols are selected – otherwise, clicking the 
“i” button may open a dialog with settings for the selected object instead.
Either way, the Staff Settings dialog appears and shows the current 
settings for the staff:
The Main tab in the Staff Settings dialog for a track called “Congas”. 
						

							CUBASE SXTranscribing MIDI recordings 3 – 45
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 
your settings will be lost!
Staff presets
When you know you will reuse settings made for one track in other 
tracks, you will save some time by creating a staff preset. This is de-
scribed on page 94.
• There are a number of staff presets available, set up to suit various in-
struments, etc.
The presets are accessed from the Presets pop-up menu in the Staff Settings dialog, 
or from the Staff Settings submenu on the Scores menu. Use them as they are, or as 
starting points for your own settings.
Names
Allows you to specify a “long” and a “short” name for the staff. The 
long name is shown for the very first system for the staff in the score 
(at the start of the song), while the short name is shown for the re-
maining systems.
• Whether the names should be shown at all is set in the Layout Settings dialog 
(see page 234).
There, you can also opt to use the names of the edited MIDI tracks instead.
• If you only want the “long name” to be shown (i.e. if you don’t want a name 
shown for each system in the score), simply delete the short name.
Key/Clef
The basic key and clef track staff settings are described in detail on 
page 31. There is also a Lower Staff check box which is only used in 
conjunction with piano (split) staves and polyphonic voicing. This is 
described on page 35. 
						

							CUBASE SX3 – 46 Transcribing MIDI recordings
Display quantize
The display quantize settings.
This is where you give the program basic information about how to in-
terpret your playing. There are “fixed” display quantize values plus an 
“Auto” option which should only be used when your music contains 
mixed straight notes and triplets. For background information about 
display quantize, see page 13.
If your music only contains “straight” notes or triplets:
1.Set the Notes display quantize value according to the “smallest note 
position” you want to be shown in the score.
For example, if you have notes on odd sixteenth note positions, the Notes display quan-
tize value should be set to 16 (sixteenth notes). The “T” values on the pop-up are for 
triplets.
2.Set the Rests display quantize value according to the smallest note 
value (length) you want to be displayed for a single note, positioned 
on a beat.
For example, if you want a single short note on a beat (quarter note position) to be dis-
played as a quarter note, set the Rests display quantize value to 4 (quarter notes).
3.Deactivate the Auto Quantize option.
4.Set all the interpretation flags.
These are described in detail below.
5.Examine the score.
6.If necessary, use the Display Quantize tool to insert “exceptions” to 
the staff settings.
See page 55. 
						

							CUBASE SXTranscribing MIDI recordings 3 – 47
If your music contains mixed straight notes and triplets
1.Examine the score and decide if it mainly contains triplets or mainly 
“straight” notes.
2.Set the Notes display quantize value accordingly.
If the score is mainly triplets, select the smallest triplet note position used in the score. 
If it is mainly straight notes, select the smallest “ordinary” note position.
3.Set the Rests display quantize value.
This is done according to the same rules as above.
4.Activate the Auto Quantize option.
5.Turn on the Deviation (”Dev.”) and Adapt flags if you need them.
When Deviation is activated, triplets/straight notes will be detected even if they are not 
exactly “on the beat”. However, if you know your triplets/straight notes are perfectly re-
corded (quantized or entered by hand), turn this off.
When Adapt is activated, the program “guesses” that when one triplet is found, there 
are probably more triplets surrounding it. Turn this on if not all of your triplets are de-
tected.
Interpretation flags
The Interpretation flags.
Clean Lengths
When this is turned on, the program interprets the length of your 
notes differently. A note’s length (in the display only) might be ex-
tended to the beginning of the next note or to the next Rests display 
quantize “position”. An example:
• If a note is too short, you may get a rest just after it.
• When Clean Lengths is turned on, the rest will disappear. 
						

							CUBASE SX3 – 48 Transcribing MIDI recordings
A slightly short eighth note with Clean Lengths off and on.
If using Clean Lengths doesn’t help in a particular situation, you will 
have to manually resize the offending note(s) or use the Display Quan-
tize tool (see page 55).
No Overlap
When notes starting at the same position have different lengths, the 
program tends to add more ties than you may want. This can be 
avoided by using No Overlap.
This recording in the Key Editor…
…will be displayed like this when No Overlap is off…
…and like this when No Overlap is on.
You can insert “exceptions” to the No Overlap setting in the Staff Set-
tings dialog, by using the Display Quantize tool.
❐Please note that probably there will be situations when neither of these 
alternatives is ideal. If you run into such a situation, it can probably be re-
solved by using polyphonic voices, see page 101. 
						

							CUBASE SXTranscribing MIDI recordings 3 – 49
Syncopation
When Syncopation is off, the program generally adds ties to long 
notes crossing beats. There are a few exceptions to this. For example, 
a half note starting at “2” in 4/4 is always displayed as a half note, 
never as two tied quarter notes.
For a “modern” notation of syncopated notes, activate Syncopation.
Syncopation off, and on.
Again, Syncopation off, and on.
Please note that you can insert “exceptions” to the Syncopation set-
ting in the Staff Settings dialog, by using the Display Quantize tool. 
You can also create tied notes in various combinations by using the 
Cut Notes tool.
Shuffle
In jazz it is very common to score a shuffled beat as straight notes, 
simply to make it more legible. 
When the Shuffle flag is turned on, the program searches for eighth 
note or sixteenth note pairs where the second note is played late (with 
a “swing feel” or as the third note in a triplet). Such pairs are displayed 
as regular eighth or sixteenth notes instead of triplet-based figures.
Shuffle off and on. 
						

							CUBASE SX3 – 50 Transcribing MIDI recordings
Display transpose
This is used when preparing parts for instruments that are not scored 
at the actual concert key. For example, if you want the note C3 to be 
played by an alto sax, you have to score it as an A3 – nine semitones 
up. Luckily, the display transpose setting takes care of this for you:
• Use the pop-up menu to select the instrument for which you’re scoring.
• If the pop-up menu doesn’t list the needed instrument, you can set the desired 
transposition with the Semitones value field.
• The display transpose setting doesn’t affect playback or the actual pitch 
of the notes – it only changes how they are displayed and printed.
More details on page 38.
The Options tab
The Options tab selected in the Staff Settings dialog.
The Options tab contains additional settings for the staff. Below fol-
lows a brief description of these, with references to more detailed ex-
planations.