Steinberg Nuendo Expansion Kit User Manual
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72 Transcribing MIDI recordings About this chapter 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 complicated, you will probably need to per- form some manual editing of the notes. Hence you will need to read the next chapter, too! 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 in- tended. If not, you might need to re-record or perform some editing. 3.Decide how much permanent alteration to the record- ing you can accept to make the score look good. If the answer is “none”, you should prepare your score from a copy of the track. See the section below. 4.Select all parts (on all tracks) that you wish to work on. 5.Open the Score Editor (e. g. by pressing [Ctrl]/[Com- mand]-[R]). 6.Activate Page Mode. Strategies: Preparing parts for score printout Below follow a few tips that you might want to refer to when preparing a score for printout: If a part i s c omple x, you may h ave t o do some “man ual” editin g of notes, like moving them or changing their lengths (see the chapter “Entering and editing notes” on page 81). 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 re- cording. Use the Duplicate Track function on the Project 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 de- tailed adjustments needed in the Score Editor. 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 project contains many repetitions, it might be quicker to record just one instance of each to start with. If you then finish the score work on each section, you can assemble the entire project by working with parts in the Project window. This might save you some time since the detailed adjustments to each section have to be performed only once. A similar approach can also be used when you create sec- tions 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 also may be situations when the quickest way to record a part for several instruments is simply to 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 polyphonic voices, you can use the Explode function, see “The Explode function” on page 79. !Before starting, make sure you understand the basic principles behind the score notes/MIDI notes rela- tionship and also what display quantize is, as de- scribed in the chapter “How the Score Editor works” on page 54.
73 Transcribing MIDI recordings Staff settings The first thing to do after opening the Score Editor is to make initial staff settings. This is done on the Score Set- tings–Staff page. There are three ways to open the Score Settings dialog: Make the staff active, pull down the Scores menu and select “Settings…”. Double-click on the blue rectangle to the left of the staff. Please note that when the option “Double-click on staff flips between full score/part” is activated in the Preferences dialog (Scores-Editing page), double-clicking will instead switch between display of either the whole score or the current voice. If your score shows more than one track, dou- ble-clicking will display this track and hide all others. If your score shows only one track, double-clicking will either show the layout, that contains most of the tracks or, if no multi-track layout exists, all tracks. Make the staff active and click the “i” button on the ex- tended toolbar. For this to work, make sure no notes or symbols are selected – other- wise, clicking the “i” button may open a dialog with settings for the se- lected object instead. Click the Staff button to open the Score Settings–Staff page. The Staff page shows the current settings for the staff on four tabs. The Main tab The Main tab of the Staff page. Applying settings and selecting other staves The Score Settings dialog is non-modal (see “About dia- logs in the Score Editor” on page 65). 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). How- ever, please note: ÖRemember 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 described in “Working with staff presets” on page 106. ÖThere are a number of staff presets available, set up to suit various instruments, etc. The presets are accessed from the Presets pop-up menu on the Score Settings–Staff page, or from the staff context menu, opened by right- clicking on the blue rectangle to the left of a staff. 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 project), while the short name is shown for the remaining systems. Whether the names should be shown at all is set on the Layout page of the Score Settings dialog (see “Staff na- mes” on page 162). There, you can also choose 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.
74 Transcribing MIDI recordings Display quantize The display quantize settings. This is where you give the program basic information about how to interpret your playing. There are “fixed” dis- play quantize values plus an “Auto” option which should only be used when your music contains mixed straight notes and triplets. For background information about dis- play quantize, see “Display quantize” on page 56. 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 quantize value should be set to 16 (sixteenth notes). The “T” val- ues 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 posi- tion) to be displayed 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 options. 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 “Inserting display quantize changes” on page 78. If your music contains mixed straight notes and triplets 1.Examine the score and decide if it mainly contains trip- lets 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.Activate 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 recorded (quantized or entered by hand), de- activate this option. When Adapt is activated, the program “guesses” that when one triplet is found, there are probably more triplets surrounding it. Activate this option if not all of your triplets are detected. Clef/Key The basic key and clef settings are described in detail in the section “Setting key, clef and time signature” on page 65. There is also a Lower Staff checkbox which is only used in conjunction with piano (split) staves and poly- phonic voicing. This is described in the section “In a split system” on page 68. Interpretation options The Interpretation options. Syncopation The Syncopation parameter has three different values: Option Description Relax When Syncopation is “relaxed”, the program will apply syncopation in a number of common cases. Full Syncopation is on. Off Syncopation is off, with no exceptions.
75 Transcribing MIDI recordings For a “modern” notation of syncopated notes, activate Syncopation. Without and with Syncopation. Again, without and with Syncopation. Please note that you can insert “exceptions” to the Synco- pation setting on the Score Settings–Staff page, by using the Display Quantize tool. You can also create tied notes in various combinations by using the Cut Notes tool. 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 dotted eighth note rest for example). Consolidate Rests deactivated and activated. Clean Lengths When this option is activated, the program interprets the length of your notes differently. A note’s length (in the dis- play only) might be extended 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 activated, the rest will disappear. A slightly short eighth note without and with “Clean Lengths”. If using Clean Lengths doesn’t help in a particular situa- tion, you will have to manually resize the offending note(s) or use the Display Quantize tool (see “Inserting display quantize changes” on page 78). 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 deactivated… …and like this when No Overlap is activated. You can insert “exceptions” to the No Overlap setting on the Score Settings–Staff page, by using the Display Quantize tool. !Please note that there may be situations when neither of these alternatives is ideal. If you run into such a sit- uation, it can probably be resolved by using poly- phonic voices, see “Polyphonic voicing” on page 95.
76 Transcribing MIDI recordings 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 activated, 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. Without and with Shuffle. 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. ÖThe display transpose setting doesn’t affect playback or the actual pitch of the notes – it only changes how they are displayed and printed. If you want to set a different key symbol, e.g. when scor- ing for french horn, activate the “Local Keys” option. You can disable display transpose by clicking on the button “Disable Display Tranpose” in the toolbar of the Score Editor. For more details, see “Transposing instruments” on page 69. The Options tab The Options tab of the Staff page. The Options tab contains additional settings for the staff. Below you can find a brief description of these, with refer- ences to more detailed explanations. Switches Option Description Flat Beams Activate this when you want the beams over notes to be flat (as opposed to slanted). See “Beam appearance and slant settings” on page 120. No Beams Activate this when you don’t want any beaming at all on the staff (for example for vocal scoring). See “Turning be- aming on/off” on page 116. Beam SubgroupsUse this when you want sixteenth notes displayed under a beam to be divided into groups of four notes. See “Handling beam groups” on page 119. Without and with Beam Subgroups. 16th SubgroupsUse this when you want even smaller subgroups of six- teenth notes. This setting has no effect if Beam Sub- groups is deactivated. As above, but with 16th Subgroups activated.
77 Transcribing MIDI recordings Score Drum Map These settings are all described in the chapter “Scoring for drums” on page 185. System Sizes This section allows you to set the number of system lines and to control spacing between the lines. See “Creating tablature manually” on page 191 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 position. 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. Note Limits Use the Low and High fields to specify a note range. In the active staff, any notes outside this range will be displayed in a different color. When writing a score for a specific in- strument, this makes it easy to find notes that are outside of this instrument’s note range. ÖIf the option “Hide Notes beyond Limits” is activated in the Preferences dialog (Scores-Editing page), any notes outside the Note Limits range will be hidden. The Polyphonic tab This is where you activate and set up split (piano) systems or polyphonic voices (several independent score lines in the same staves). See the chapter “Polyphonic voicing” on page 95. The Tablature tab This contains settings for creating tablature scores. See the chapter “Creating tablature” on page 189. Situations which require additional techniques The notes may not always appear in the score as you ex- pect them to, initially. This is because there are a number of situations which require special techniques and set- tings. Below you can find a list of some of these and where to find more information about handling them: Notes at the same position are considered to be part of a chord. To get independent voicing (e.g. notes with dif- ferent stem directions), such as for vocal material, you need to use the polyphonic voicing feature, see the chap- ter “Polyphonic voicing” on page 95. 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 Over- lap feature (see “No Overlap” on page 75) or polyphonic voicing (see “Polyphonic voicing” on page 95). One note will often be displayed as two notes with a tie. Please note that this is merely the way the program dis- plays this note; only a single note is “stored”. This single note in the Key Editor is displayed as two tied notes in the Score Editor. Normally the program adds ties where necessary (if a note stretches over a beat), but not always. For a “mod- ern” notation of syncopated notes (less ties), you will need to use the Syncopation feature, see “Syncopation” on page 74. 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 “The Cut Notes tool” on page 121.
78 Transcribing MIDI recordings 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 “Graphic mo- ving of notes” on page 122. If a note has the wrong accidental, this can be changed. See “Accidentals and enharmonic shift” on page 113. Stem direction and length are automatic, but you can change them manually if you wish. See “Background: Note stems” on page 111. If you need a split staff (e. g. when you are scoring for piano), there are special techniques for this – see “Split (piano) staves” on page 92 and “Polyphonic voicing” on page 95. If you run into trouble Below you can find a few simple troubleshooting steps that will help you pinpoint 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 “Display quantize” on page 74 for details. If you feel uncertain about what display quantize is, and how it works, please read the chapter “How the Score Editor works” on page 54. 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 us- ing Clean Lengths (see “Clean Lengths” on page 75) or by manually lengthening it (see “Changing the length of notes” on page 90). If this problem occurs a lot in your score, try selecting a larger Rests display quantize value (see “Using Rests display quantize” on page 57). 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 Rests display quantize is set to too high a value. Open the Score Settings–Staff page and lower it. The note has an accidental when it shouldn’t, or it doesn’t when it should. Enharmonic shifting is described in the section “Accidentals and enhar- monic shift” on page 113. Notes are not grouped under beams the way I want it. Normally the program groups eighth notes, sixteenths etc. under beams. This can be deactivated. There is also detailed control of which notes are grouped under a beam. This is described in the section “Handling bea- ming” on page 116. Inserting display quantize changes Some situations may require 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 val- ues as desired. For details, see “Display quantize” on page 74 and “Interpretation opti- ons” on page 74. Additional hints below. 4.If you want to restore the settings to the ones used on the Score Settings–Staff page, click the Restore To Staff button. 5.Move the mouse over the staff where you want to in- sert a new display quantize value. Use the mouse position box to find the exact location. The vertical posi- tion is of no relevance as long as you click somewhere in the staff. 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.
79 Transcribing MIDI recordings If you are using polyphonic voices (see “Polyphonic voi- cing” on page 95), 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 on the Score Settings–Project page (Notation Style subpage, in the Miscella- neous category), 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 “Showing and hiding “invisible” elements” on page 64), 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 display quantize change event, adjust its set- tings 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 current staff settings). If you have mixed triplets and straight notes, it can be tempting to insert many display quantize changes. Before you do so, try the Auto Quantize options and their addi- tional settings. See “If your music contains mixed straight notes and triplets” on page 74. 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 in the section “Automatically – the Explode function” on page 100. 1.Pull down the Scores menu, open the Functions sub- menu and select “Explode…”. 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. 4.Use the options in the bottom section to set up the cri- teria 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 win- dow. !You may want to create a copy of the original track first, since this will be changed by the operation. Option Description Split Note Use this to move all notes below a certain pitch to an- other track. When this is selected, it is pointless to spec- ify 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 re- main 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.
80 Transcribing MIDI recordings Using “Scores Notes To MIDI” For very complicated scores, there may be situations where you have tweaked the parameters for display quan- tize and interpretation as best you can, and you still can’t get the score exactly as you want it. Perhaps one setting works fine in one section of the track and another is needed for another section. In such a 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 val- ues 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 “Hiding/showing objects” on page 174). 4.Select “Scores Notes To MIDI” from the 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 previously only displayed, you can probably de- activate many of the options on the Score Settings–Staff page 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.