Steinberg Cubase SX/SL 3 Score Layout And Printing Manual

							CUBASE SXEntering and editing notes using the mouse 4 – 71
If you run into trouble
Below follow a few simple troubleshooting steps that will help you pin-
point some common mistakes:
•The note I put in has the wrong length. For example, I added a sixteenth 
and got a quarter note.
You probably have the wrong display quantize value set. Open the Staff Settings dialog. 
If Auto Quantize is on, turn it off, unless you have mixed triplets and regular notes. Also 
check the Notes and Rests display quantize values. If the settings are too “coarse”, 
change them to a smaller note value. If you for example need the program to display an 
eighth note rest, Rests display quantize must be set to “8” or a smaller value (please re-
fer to the chapter “How the Score Editor works”). If No Overlap is on, you might want to 
turn it off.
•There is a pause after a note that I don’t want.
You probably added a note with the wrong note value. Either lengthen the note (phys-
ically or graphically – see page 82) or delete the one you have (see page 74) and add 
a new one with the correct note value.
•There is no pause after the note although there should be one.
Either the note is too long (delete and enter a new one or change the current note’s 
length, physically or graphically). Or, your Rests display quantize is set to too large a 
note value. Open the Staff Settings dialog and lower it.
•The note has an accidental when it shouldn’t, or it doesn’t when it 
should.
Maybe the note is simply of the wrong pitch? Click on it (using the Object Selection 
tool) and look at the info line (if this is shown, see page 27). Move it to the correct pitch 
(see page 80). If this is not the reason, maybe you have the wrong key set? And last, 
enharmonic shifting is described 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 SX4 – 72 Entering and editing notes using the mouse
Selecting notes
In the operations described in the rest of this chapter, you will often 
work on selected notes. The text below describes how to select notes 
in various ways:
By clicking
To select a note, click on its note head with the Object Selection tool. 
The note head is inverted to indicate that it is selected.
•To select more notes, hold down [Shift] and click on them.
•To deselect notes, hold down [Shift] and click on them again.
•If you hold down [Shift] and double click on a note, this note and all 
the following notes in the same staff are selected.
Using a selection rectangle
1.Press the mouse button with the Object Selection tool in an empty 
area in the score.
2.Drag the mouse pointer.
A selection rectangle appears. You can drag to select voices on several voices or 
staves if you wish.
3.Release the mouse button.
All notes with their note heads inside the rectangle are selected.
If you want to deselect one or more of the notes, hold down [Shift] 
and click as described above.
Selected notes 
						

							CUBASE SXEntering and editing notes using the mouse 4 – 73
Using the keyboard
By default, you can step through the notes in the staff using the left 
and right arrow keys. If you press [Shift], you will select the notes as 
you step through them.
•If you are working with polyphonic voices, you will only step through 
the notes in the current voice.
•If you want to use other keys for selecting notes, you can customize the 
settings in the Key Commands dialog on the File menu (in the Navigate 
category).
Selecting tied notes
Longer notes are often displayed in the score as one note with a tie. 
When you intend to select the entire note for deleting etc., you should 
select the first note, not the tied note.
❐There is a preference for this in the Preferences–Scores dialog: If you 
activate “Tied notes selected as Single Units”, the whole note will be se-
lected, even if you just click on one of the tied notes.
Deselecting everything
To deselect everything, simply click with the Object Selection tool in 
an empty area in the score. 
						

							CUBASE SX4 – 74 Entering and editing notes using the mouse
Deleting notes
Notes can be deleted in two ways:
Using the Erase tool
1.Select the Erase tool from the toolbar or Quick menu.
The Erase tool on the Quick menu.
2.Click on the note(s) you want to erase, one at a time or drag over them 
with the mouse button pressed.
Using the keyboard or delete menu item
1.Select the notes you want to delete.
2.Select Delete from the Edit menu, or press [Delete] or [Backspace] 
on the computer keyboard. 
						

							CUBASE SXEntering and editing notes using the mouse 4 – 75
Moving notes
About the lock layers
When you are moving and editing notes in the score, you might acci-
dentally move other objects nearby. To avoid this, assign different types 
of objects to different “lock layers” (up to three) and instruct Cubase SX 
to “lock” one or two of these layers, making them unmovable.
There are two ways to set up which type of object should belong to 
which lock layer:
• Open the Preferences dialog from the File menu and select the Scores–Event 
Layer page.
This page lets you adjust the layer setting for each object type.
• Right-click (Win) or [Ctrl]-click (Mac) on one of the layer buttons (1-2-3) in the 
extended toolbar to bring up a pop-up menu, showing which object types are 
associated with that layer.
A checkmark for an object type means it belongs to that layer. If no checkmark is 
shown, you can select the object type on the menu to move it to that layer.
To lock a layer, click on its number on the Lock layer button, so that it 
is not blue. You can only select or move objects whose layer number 
is activated. For more detailed information, see page 184.
• There are also “L” and “G” layer buttons, for the layout and global layer, 
respectively.
Clicking these buttons allows you to lock the layout layer and global layer in the same 
way. See page 158. 
						

							CUBASE SX4 – 76 Entering and editing notes using the mouse
Activating auditioning
Auditioning activated
If you want to hear the pitch of the note while moving, activate the 
speaker icon on the toolbar. When it is on, you will hear the current 
pitch of the “dragged” note, as described below.
Moving by dragging
1.Set the quantize value.
The quantize value will restrict your movement in time. You can not place the notes on 
positions smaller than the quantize value. If Quantize for example is set to “1/8 Note”, 
you will not be able to move the notes to a sixteenth note position. However, you will 
be able to put them on any eighth note, quarter note, half note or whole note position.
2.Select the note(s) you plan to move.
You can select across several staves if you wish.
3.Click one of the selected notes and drag it to a new position.
The horizontal movement of the note is “magnetically attracted” to the current quantize 
value. The position boxes on the toolbar show what the new position and pitch for the 
dragged note will be.
• If the option “Show Note Info by the Mouse” is activated in the Prefer-
ences–Scores dialog, the position and pitch of the note will also be 
shown in a “tool tip” next to the pointer while you’re dragging.
If you find that screen redraws are too sluggish, you may want to deactivate this option.
4.Release the mouse button.
The notes appear at their new position.
•If you press [Ctrl]/[Command] and drag, movement is restricted to 
vertical or horizontal only (depending on in which direction you drag).
•If you move notes vertically and the option “Keep moved notes within 
key” is activated in the Preferences–Scores dialog, the notes will be 
transposed within the current key only. 
						

							CUBASE SXEntering and editing notes using the mouse 4 – 77
Moving by using key commands
Instead of dragging the note with the mouse, you can assign key com-
mands for this:
•The commands for which you should assign keys are found in the 
Nudge category in the Key Commands dialog.
The commands are listed as “Left”, “Right”, “Top” and “Bottom”.
•When moving notes to the left or right using key commands, the notes 
will be moved in steps according to the current quantize value.
The keys assigned for up/down nudging will transpose notes in semitone steps.
Moving across staves – the Lock button
If you are editing several tracks, you may want to move notes from one 
staff to another. Proceed as follows:
1.Set Quantize and select the notes as described above.
You may select notes from several staves, but only the ones on the staff from which 
you actually dragged will be moved, so this is probably best avoided.
2.Make sure the “L” (Lock) button on the extended toolbar is deacti-
vated.
When this button is activated, you cannot move notes and other objects from one staff 
to another, which is handy if you for example need to transpose a note very high or low.
3.Click on one of the notes and drag them to the new system.
The active staff rectangle indicates on which staff the dragged note(s) will appear.
The “L” (Lock) button is deactivated. 
						

							CUBASE SX4 – 78 Entering and editing notes using the mouse
Duplicating notes
1.Set the quantize value and select the notes, as for moving.
You can duplicate any block of notes, even on several systems at the same time.
2.Press [Alt]/[Option] and drag the notes to their new position.
•If you want to restrict movements to one direction only, press [Ctrl]/
[Command].
This works just as for moving, as described above.
•If you want to restrict the pitch to inside the current key only, make 
sure the option “Keep moved notes within key” is activated in the Pref-
erences–Scores dialog.
•[Alt]/[Option] is the default modifier key for copying/duplicating. If you 
like, you can change this in the Preferences dialog (Editing–Tool Mod-
ifiers page).
The entry for this is found in the Drag & Drop category (“Copy”).
Moving using the bar handles
You can move or copy whole bars by dragging the bar handles. This is 
described on page 189. 
						

							CUBASE SXEntering and editing notes using the mouse 4 – 79
Cut, copy and paste
•To cut notes, select them and select Cut from the Edit menu (or use a 
key command, by default [Ctrl]/[Command]-[X]).
The notes are now removed from the score and put on the clipboard. Below we de-
scribe how to insert notes from the clipboard into the score.
•To copy notes, select them and select Copy from the Edit menu (or 
use a key command, by default [Ctrl]/[Command]-[C]).
A copy of the notes is made, and put on the clipboard. The original notes remain where 
they were.
❐The clipboard can only hold one set of notes. If you cut or copy and then 
cut or copy again, the notes that first were on the clipboard will be lost.
Notes that you have put on the clipboard by cutting or copying can be 
inserted into the score again, in the following way:
1.Make one staff active.
2.Move the project cursor to the position where you want the first note 
to appear.
3.Select Paste from the Edit menu (or use a key command, by default 
[Ctrl]/[Command]-[V]).
The notes are pasted in, beginning at the project cursor. If the cut or copied notes 
come from different staves, they will be pasted into their original staves. Otherwise, the 
notes are put in on the active staff. They keep the pitch and relative positions they had 
when you cut or copied them.  
						

							CUBASE SX4 – 80 Entering and editing notes using the mouse
Editing pitches of individual notes
By dragging
The most basic way to edit the pitch of a note would probably be to 
drag it up or down. Remember to hold down [Ctrl]/[Command] to 
avoid moving the note sideways as well.
•If the option “Keep moved notes within key” is activated in the Prefer-
ences–Scores dialog, notes will be transposed within the current key 
only.
•To avoid accidentally moving the note into another staff, activate the 
Lock button as described on page 77.
Using the Transpose palette
The Transpose palette on the toolbar contains buttons for transposing 
the selected notes up or down in steps of one semitone or one octave.
•To show the Transpose palette, right-click (Windows) or [Ctrl]-click 
(Mac) the toolbar and make sure “Transpose Palette” is activated 
(ticked) in the context menu that appears.
Using key commands
Instead of transposing the note with the mouse, you can assign key 
commands for this.
•The commands for which you should assign keys are found in the 
Nudge category in the Key Commands dialog.
The commands are listed as “Top” (transpose one semitone up) and “Bottom” (trans-
pose one semitone down).
Using the info line
You can use the info line to change the pitches (and other properties) of 
one or several notes numerically, as described in the Operation Manual.
•If you have several notes selected and change the pitch on the info 
line, the changes will be relative.
That is, all selected notes will be transposed by an equal amount.