Steinberg Cubase SX/SL 3 Score Layout And Printing Manual

							CUBASE SXTranscribing MIDI recordings 3 – 51
Switches
OptionDescription
Flat Beams Activate this when you want the beams over notes to be flat (as 
opposed to slanted). See page 141.
No  Beams Activate this when you don’t want any beaming at all on the staff 
(for example for vocal scoring). See page 134.
Beam Subgroups Use this when you want sixteenth notes displayed under a 
beam to be divided into groups of four notes. See page 140.
Beam Subgroups off and on
16th Subgroups Use this when you want even smaller subgroups of sixteenth 
notes. This setting has no effect if Beam Subgroups is turned off.
As above, but with 16th Subgroups activated.
Consolidate Rests Activate this when you want small consecutive rests joined into 
one (an eight note rest and a sixteenth note rest joined to a dot-
ted eighth note rest for example). 
Consolidate Rests off and on. 
						

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Score Drum Map
These settings are all described in the chapter “Scoring for drums”.
System Sizes
This section allows you to set the number of system lines and to con-
trol spacing between the lines. See page 289 for an example of how 
this can be used with tablature.
Fixed Stems
Activate this if you want all note stems to end at the same vertical po-
sition. The Up and Down fields let you specify the desired positions 
for stems in the respective direction, using the graphic figure to the 
right as a guideline.
The Polyphonic tab
This is where you activate and set up split (piano) systems or poly-
phonic voices (several independent score lines in the same staves). 
See page 102.
The Tablature tab
This contains settings for creating tablature scores. See “Creating ta-
blature”. 
						

							CUBASE SXTranscribing MIDI recordings 3 – 53
Situations which require additional techniques
The notes may not always appear in the score as you expect them to, 
initially. This is because there are a number of situations which require 
special techniques and settings. Below follows a list of some of these 
and where to find more information about handling them:
• Notes at the same position are considered parts of a chord. To get indepen-
dent voicing (e.g. notes with different stem directions), such as for vocal ma-
terial, you need to use the polyphonic voicing feature described on page 101.
Without and with polyphonic voicing.
• If two notes beginning at the same position have different lengths, the longer 
one 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 as two tied notes in the Score Editor.
• Generally the program adds ties where necessary (if a note stretches over a 
beat), but not always. For a “modern” notation of syncopated notes (less ties), 
you will need to use the Syncopation feature described on page 49.
The same note, without and with syncopation.
• If you find that you want a long note to be displayed as two or more tied notes, 
you can achieve this with the Cut Notes tool. See page 145.
• If two notes on the same position are too close to each other or if you want 
their order in the part reversed, you can do this without affecting playback. 
See page 147. 
						

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• If a note has the wrong accidental, this can be changed. See page 127.
• Stem direction and length are automatic, but you can change them manually if 
you wish. See page 122.
• If you are scoring for piano and therefore (or for other reasons) need a split 
staff, there are special techniques for this – see page 85 and page 101.
If you run into trouble
Below follow a few simple troubleshooting steps that will help you pin-
point other common problems:
•The note I recorded is displayed with the wrong length. For example, I 
recorded a sixteenth and got a quarter note.
You probably have the wrong display quantize value set, see page 46 for details. If you 
feel uncertain about what display quantize is, and how it works, please read “How the 
Score Editor works”. Also, you may want to check the No Overlap setting.
•There is a pause after a note that I don’t want.
The note is probably too short. This can be adjusted in two ways, by using Clean 
Lengths (see page 47) or by manually lengthening it (see page 82). If this problem oc-
curs a lot in your score, try selecting a larger Rests display quantize value (see page 16).
•There is no pause after the note although there should be one.
Either the note is too long (use Clean Lengths or change the current note’s length). Or, 
your Rests display quantize value is set too high. Open the Staff Settings dialog and 
lower it.
•The note has an accidental when it shouldn’t, or it doesn’t when it 
should.
Enharmonic shifting is discussed on page 127.
•Notes are not grouped under beams the way I want it.
Normally the program groups eighth notes, sixteenths etc. under beams. This can be 
turned off. There is also detailed control of which notes are grouped under a beam. 
This is all described on page 134. 
						

							CUBASE SXTranscribing MIDI recordings 3 – 55
Inserting display quantize changes
There are instances when you will want different staff settings on dif-
ferent sections of the track. The staff settings are valid for the entire 
track, but you can insert changes wherever you like:
1.Select the Display Quantize tool from the toolbar or Quick menu.
The Display Quantize tool on the toolbar.
2.When you select the tool, the Display Quantize dialog appears.
3.Activate the flags you need and set the quantize values as desired.
Details are found on page 46 and page 47. Additional hints below.
4.If you want to restore the settings to the ones used in the Staff Set-
tings dialog, click on Restore To Staff.
5.Move the mouse over the staff where you want to insert a new display 
quantize value.
Use the mouse position box to find the exact location. The vertical position is of no rel-
evance as long as you click somewhere in the staff. 
						

							CUBASE SX3 – 56 Transcribing MIDI recordings
6.Click the mouse button to insert a display quantize event.
The new quantize settings are now inserted into the staff at the position where you 
clicked. The settings are valid until a new change is inserted. 
•If you are using polyphonic voices (see page 101), you can insert a 
display quantize event for all voices by pressing [Alt]/[Option] and 
clicking with the tool.
If the option “Display Quantize Tool affects all Voices” is activated in the Notation 
Style–Switches dialog (Scores–Global Settings submenu), display quantize events 
will always be inserted for all voices.
Viewing and editing display quantize changes
If you activate the “Quantize” checkbox on the display filter bar (see 
page 30), a marker will be shown under the staff for each display 
quantize setting you have entered with the tool.
This allows you to edit your settings in the following ways:
•To edit a display quantize change event, double click on its marker.
This opens the Display Quantize dialog again – adjust the settings and click Apply.
•If the Display Quantize dialog is already open, you can select any dis-
play quantize change event, adjust its settings in the dialog and click 
Apply.
•To remove a display quantize change, either click its marker to select 
it and press [Backspace] or [Delete], or click on it with the Erase tool.
Strategies: Adding display quantize changes
Very often, the score will be fine except for a few bars somewhere. To 
remedy the problem, insert two display quantize changes with the tool 
(one at the beginning of the section, one after it to restore to the cur-
rent staff settings).
If you have mixed triplets and straight notes, it can be tempting to in-
sert many display quantize changes. Before you do so, try the Auto 
Quantize options and their additional settings. See page 47. 
						

							CUBASE SXTranscribing MIDI recordings 3 – 57
The Explode function
This function allows you to “split” the notes on a staff into separate 
tracks. It is also possible to use this function to convert a polyphonic 
staff into polyphonic voices – this is described on page 112.
❐You may want to create a copy of the original track first, since this will be 
changed by the operation.
1.Pull down the Scores menu and select “Explode…” from the Global 
Functions submenu.
The Explode dialog, set to create tracks.
2.Make sure “To New tracks” is selected at the top of the dialog.
3.Enter the desired number of new tracks.
Note that this is the number of new tracks to be created! For example, if you have a 
three-part polyphonic section and want to split this into three separate tracks, you 
must specify 2 new tracks, since the original track will hold one of the parts. 
						

							CUBASE SX3 – 58 Transcribing MIDI recordings
4.Use the options in the bottom section to set up the criteria for the split.
Choose from the following options:
5.Click OK.
A number of new tracks are now added to the score and the project window.
Option Description
Split Note Use this to move all notes below a certain pitch to another track. 
When this is selected, it is pointless to specify more than 1 new 
track.
Lines To tracks Use this when you want all musical “lines” to be put on one track 
each. The notes with the highest pitch will remain on the original 
track, the notes with the second highest pitch will be put on the first 
new track, and so on. 
Bass To Lowest 
VoiceWhen this is activated, the lowest notes will always end up on the 
lowest track. 
						

							CUBASE SXTranscribing MIDI recordings 3 – 59
Using “Scores Notes To MIDI”
For very complicated scores, there may be situations where you have 
tweaked the parameters for display quantize and interpretation best 
you can, and you still can’t get the score exactly as you want it. Per-
haps one setting works fine in one section of the track and another is 
needed for another section.
In this case, “Scores Notes To MIDI” will help you out. It changes the 
lengths and position of some or all the MIDI notes in the edited parts 
so that they have exactly the values currently shown on screen.
1.For safety, go back to the project window and make a copy of the 
track.
2.Open the part(s) again in the Score Editor.
If you only want some sections of your score to be “converted”, make sure to only open 
those parts.
3.Make sure the notes you want to affect are not hidden (see page 250).
4.Select “Scores Notes To MIDI” from the Global Functions submenu 
on the Scores menu.
The notes are now “converted”.
5.Make whatever adjustments are needed to make the score read as 
intended.
Now that the notes have the exact lengths and positions that were pre-
viously only displayed, you can probably turn off many of the options in 
the Staff Settings dialog and delete display quantize settings etc.
If you find the operation didn’t give you the result you were after, you 
can undo your settings or go back to the original track, make a copy of 
that, and start over. 
						

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