Steinberg Cubase 5 Operation Manual

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The MIDI editors
At the bottom of the pop-up menu, there are two addi-
tional items:
If “Time Linear” is selected, the ruler, note display and 
controller display will be linear in relation to time.
This means that if the ruler shows bars and beats, the distance between 
the bar lines will vary depending on the tempo.
If “Bars+Beats Linear” is selected, the ruler, note display 
and controller display will be linear in relation to tempo.
This means that if the ruler shows bars and beats, the distance between 
beats will be constant.
In most cases, you would probably set the display format 
to “Bars+Beats” in “Bars+Beats Linear” mode when edit-
ing MIDI.
The note display
The note display is the main area in the Key Editor. It con-
tains a grid in which MIDI notes are shown as boxes. The 
width of a box corresponds to the note length, and the 
vertical position of a box corresponds to the note number 
(pitch), with higher notes higher up in the grid. The piano 
keyboard to the left serves as a guide for finding the right 
note number. 
For a description on how to display colors in the note dis-
play, see “Coloring notes and events” on page 344.
The chord recognition function
Cubase features a handy chord recognition function that 
helps you identify chords in the Key Editor note display. To 
find out which chord is formed by simultaneously played 
notes, place the project cursor over the notes. All MIDI 
notes currently “touched” by the project cursor are ana-
lyzed and the chord recognition display in the toolbar 
shows you which chord the notes form.
In the picture above, the project cursor touches the notes C, Eb and G. 
As shown in the chord recognition display, this results in a C minor chord.
The controller display
The area at the bottom of the Key Editor window is the 
controller display. This consists of one or several control-
ler lanes, each showing one of the following properties or 
event types:
 Velocity values of the notes.
 Pitchbend events.
 Aftertouch events.
 Poly Pressure events.
 Program Change events.
 SysEx events.
 Articulations (see the chapter “VST Expression” on page 372).
 Any type of continuous controller event (see “Editing conti-
nuous controllers on the controller lane” on page 355).
To change the size of the controller display, drag the di-
vider between the controller display and the note display. 
This will make the controller display larger and the note 
display smaller, or vice versa. 
						

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Velocity values are shown as vertical bars in the controller 
display, with higher bars corresponding to higher velocity 
values:
Each velocity bar corresponds to a note in the note display.
Events other than velocity values are shown as blocks, the 
heights of which correspond to the values of the events. 
The beginning of an event is marked by a curve point. To 
select an event, click on the curve point, so that it turns 
red.
ÖUnlike notes, events in the controller display have no 
length. The value of an event in the display is “valid” until 
the start of the next event:
For a description of editing in the controller display, see 
“Editing in the controller display” on page 351.
Key Editor operations
Zooming
Zooming in the Key Editor is done according to the stan-
dard zoom procedures, using the zoom sliders, the Zoom 
tool or the Zoom submenu on the Edit menu.
When you drag a rectangle with the Zoom tool, the result 
depends on the option “Zoom Tool Standard Mode: Hori-
zontal Zooming Only” in the Preferences (Editing–Tools 
page).
If this is activated, the window will only be zoomed horizontally; if not, the 
window will be zoomed both horizontally and vertically.
Using the Trim tool
The Trim tool allows you to change the length of note 
events by cutting off the end or the beginning of notes. It 
is available in the Key Editor and in the List Editor.
Using the Trim tool means moving the note-on or the note-
off event for one or several notes to a position defined with 
the mouse. Proceed as follows:
1.Select the Trim tool in the toolbar.
The mouse pointer changes to a knife symbol.
2.Locate the notes that you wish to edit.
3.To edit a single note, click on it with the Trim tool. The 
range between the mouse cursor and the end of the note 
will be removed.
You can use the mouse position display in the toolbar to find the exact 
position for the trim operation.
4.To edit several notes, click and drag with the mouse 
across the notes.
A line is displayed. The notes will be trimmed along this line.
Trimming the end of three note events.
By default, the Trim tool will cut off the end of notes. To 
trim the beginning of the note(s), press [Alt]/[Option] while 
dragging.
If you delete the second event…
…the first event will be “valid” 
until the start of the third event. 
						

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If you press [Ctrl]/[Command] while dragging, you will 
get a vertical trim line, allowing you to set the same start or 
end time for all edited notes.
You can change the Trim tool key commands in the Prefe-
rences (Editing–Tool Modifiers page).
ÖNote that when you trim the beginning of a note in the 
List Editor, the note may move to a different position in the 
list (since other events may now begin before the edited 
event).
ÖNote that the trimmed note ends or starts do not snap 
to the grid.
Playing back
You can play back your music as usual when working in a 
MIDI editor. There are several features designed to make 
editing easier during playback:
Solo button
If you activate the Solo button, only the edited MIDI parts 
will be heard during regular playback.
Autoscroll
 
As described in the section “Autoscroll” on page 57, the 
Autoscroll function makes the window “follow” the project 
cursor during playback, so that the current play position is 
visible at all times. However, when you are working in a 
MIDI editor, you may want to deactivate Autoscroll – this 
way, the events you are working with will stay visible.
The Autoscroll buttons in each MIDI editor are independent 
of the Project window Autoscroll setting, which means that 
Autoscroll can be activated in the Project window and de-
activated in the MIDI editor you are working in.
The independent track loop
The independent track loop is a sort of “mini-cycle”, affect-
ing only the MIDI part being edited. When the loop is acti-
vated, the MIDI events within the loop will be repeated 
continuously and completely independent – other events 
(on other tracks) will be played back as usual. The only “in-
teraction” between the loop and the “regular playback” is 
that every time the cycle starts over again, so does the loop.
To set up the independent track loop, proceed as follows:
1.Activate the loop by clicking on the Loop button on the 
toolbar.
If it is not visible, right-click the toolbar and add the Independent Track 
Loop Settings section – see “Using the Setup options” on page 471.
When the loop is activated, the cycle is not shown in the 
ruler. 
2.Now you need to specify the length of the loop. You 
have the following possibilities:
[Ctrl]/[Command]-click and [Alt]/[Option]-click in the 
ruler to set the start and end of the loop, respectively.
Edit the loop start and end positions numerically in the 
fields next to the Loop button.
Click and drag in the upper part of the ruler to move the 
locators to the desired positions.
The independent track loop is indicated in purple in the 
ruler.
ÖThe MIDI events will be looped as long as the Loop 
button is activated and the MIDI editor window is open.
To turn the loop into actual MIDI notes, use the Repeat 
Loop function on the MIDI menu, see “Repeat Loop” on 
page 333. 
						

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Acoustic Feedback
If the speaker icon on the toolbar is activated, individual 
notes will automatically be played back (auditioned) when 
you move or transpose them, or when you create new notes 
by drawing. This makes it easier to hear what you’re doing.
In the Preferences dialog (MIDI page), you can specify 
whether the Acoustic Feedback function should also in-
clude any MIDI sends or inserts used for the track. Activate 
the option “Audition through MIDI Inserts/Sends” if you 
want the layering of MIDI instruments (by MIDI sends) to be 
active within the MIDI editors as well. This way, the acous-
tic feedback of the editors sends the MIDI data not only to 
the output selected for the track, but additionally through 
any MIDI inserts and MIDI sends assigned to it. Note, how-
ever, that this also means that the MIDI events will be sent 
through any MIDI plug-ins assigned to this track.
Snap
Snap is activated on the toolbar.
The Snap function helps you find exact positions when ed-
iting in a MIDI editor. It does this by restricting horizontal 
movement and positioning to certain positions. Operations 
affected by snap include moving, duplicating, drawing, siz-
ing, etc.
How Snap works depends on the Snap mode pop-up 
menu next to the Snap button.
See “The Snap function” on page 56.
When the “Bars+Beats” display format is selected in 
the ruler, the snap grid is set by the quantize value on the 
toolbar.
This makes it possible to snap not only to straight note values but also to 
swing grids set up in the Quantize Setup dialog (see “The Quantizing 
functions” on page 326).
When any of the other display formats is selected in the 
ruler, positioning is restricted to the displayed grid, i.e. you 
can snap in finer increments by zooming in, and in coarser 
increments by zooming out the display.
Coloring notes and events
By using the Colors pop-up menu on the toolbar, you can 
select a color scheme for the events in the editor. The fol-
lowing options are available:
When any of the options (apart from “Part”) is selected, 
you can select “Setup” from the Colors pop-up menu. 
This opens a dialog in which you can specify which colors 
should be associated with which velocities, pitches or 
channels, respectively.
Creating and editing notes
To draw in new notes in the Key Editor, you use the Pencil 
tool or the Line tool.
Drawing notes with the Pencil tool
With the Pencil tool, you insert single notes by clicking at 
the desired time (horizontal) and pitch position (vertical).
When you move the pointer in the note display, its bar 
position is indicated in the toolbar, and its pitch is indicated 
both in the toolbar and on the piano keyboard to the left.
This makes it easy to find the right note and insert position.
If Snap is activated, this determines the start position of 
the created note.
Option Description
Velocity The notes get different colors depending on their velocity 
values.
Pitch The notes get different colors depending on their pitch.
Channel The notes get different colors depending on their MIDI 
channel value.
Part The notes get the same color as their respective part in 
the Project window. Use this option when you are work-
ing with two or more tracks in an editor, to make it easier 
to see which notes belong to which track.
GridMatch The notes get different colors depending on their time 
position. This mode makes it easy to see e.g. if the notes 
in a chord start at the exact same beat. 
						

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The MIDI editors
If you click once, the created note will have the length 
set on the Length Quantize pop-up menu on the toolbar.
You can create a longer note by clicking and dragging. The length of the 
created note will be a multiple of the Length Quantize value.
Drawing notes with the Line tool
The Line tool can be used for creating series of contigu-
ous notes. To do so, click and drag to draw a line and then 
release the mouse button.
ÖThe Line tool has several different modes.
To select one of the modes, click on the Line tool icon on the toolbar 
when the tool is already selected. This opens a pop-up menu from which 
you can select one of the Line tool modes.
The tool icon will change appearance according to the se-
lected mode.
Setting velocity values
When you draw notes in the Key Editor, the notes will get 
the velocity value set in the insert velocity field on the tool-
bar.
You can use one of four different methods for determining 
the velocity:
When a tool modifier is assigned for the Select tool–
Edit Velocity action (in the Editing–Tool Modifiers page of 
the Preferences dialog), you can select one or more notes, 
press the modifier (by default [Ctrl]/[Command]-[Shift]) 
and click on one of the selected notes to change the ve-
locity. 
The cursor changes into a speaker and, next to the note, a field with the 
velocity value appears – the Note Velocity slider. Move the mouse 
pointer up or down to change the value. Value changes will be applied to 
all selected notes, as you can see in the controller lane. 
Selecting a predefined velocity value from the insert ve-
locity pop-up menu.
The menu contains five different predefined velocity values. The “Setup…” 
item opens a dialog that allows you to specify which five velocity values 
should be available on the pop-up menu. (This dialog can also be opened 
by selecting “Insert Velocities…” from the MIDI menu.)
Manually entering the desired velocity value by clicking 
in the insert velocity field and typing in the desired value.
Using a key command.
You can assign a key command to each of the five available velocity val-
ues in the Key Commands dialog (MIDI category – the items Insert Ve-
locity 1–5). This allows for quick switching between different velocity 
values when entering notes. See “Setting up key commands” on page 
480 for instructions on how to set up key commands.
Mode Description
Line This is the default mode for the Line tool. When this 
mode is selected, you click and drag to create a straight 
line, in any angle. When you release the mouse button a 
series of notes will be created, aligned with the line. If 
Snap is activated, the notes will be spaced and sized ac-
cording to the Quantize value.
Parabola, Sine, 
Triangle, 
SquareThese modes insert events along different curve shapes. 
While they can be used for creating notes, they’re proba-
bly best suited for controller editing (see “Adding and 
editing events in the controller display” on page 353).
Paint Allows you to insert multiple notes by dragging with the 
mouse button pressed. If Snap is activated, the notes will 
be positioned and sized according to the Quantize and 
Length Quantize values. If you press [Ctrl]/[Command] 
while painting, movement will be restricted to horizontal 
only (i.e. the painted notes will have the same pitch). 
						

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The MIDI editors
Selecting notes
Selecting notes is done using any of the following methods:
Use the Arrow tool.
The standard selection techniques apply, like selecting by clicking on the 
note or using a selection rectangle. Note that when you press [Shift] and 
click on notes or draw a selection rectangle, these notes will be added to 
the overall selection. When you press [Ctrl]/[Command] and click on 
notes or draw a selection rectangle, these notes will be removed from 
the overall selection (standard Windows behavior).
Use the Select submenu on the Edit menu or context 
menu.
The Select menu options are:
You can also use the left and right arrow keys on the 
computer keyboard to step from one note to another.
If you press [Shift] and use the arrow keys, the current selection will be 
kept, allowing you to select several notes.
To select all notes of a certain pitch, press [Ctrl]/[Com-
mand] and click on the desired key in the keyboard display 
to the left.
You can also press [Shift] and double-click on a note to select all the fol-
lowing notes of the same pitch – or use the Equal Pitch functions on the 
Select submenu.
If the option “Auto Select Events under Cursor” is acti-
vated in the Preferences (Editing page), all notes “touched” 
by the project cursor are automatically selected.
Toggle selections
If you want to toggle the selected elements within a selec-
tion rectangle, press [Ctrl]/[Command] and enclose the 
same elements within a new selection rectangle. Once 
you release the mouse button, the previous selection is 
deselected and vice versa.
Selecting controllers within the note range
You can select the controllers within the range of the se-
lected notes. The following applies:
When the Auto Select Controllers button is activated 
on the toolbar, the controllers will always be selected 
when the respective notes are selected.
When you select “Select Controllers in Note Range” on 
the Select submenu of the Edit menu, the controllers within 
the note range (i. e. between the first/leftmost and last/right-
most note) will be selected.
Please note that for this to work, only two notes have to be selected. All 
controllers within this range will be selected.
A note range lasts until the start of the next note or the 
end of the part. 
Selected controllers for notes are moved when the cor-
responding notes are moved.
Option Description
All Selects all notes in the edited part.
None Deselects all events.
Invert Inverts the selection – all selected events are deselected 
and all notes that were not selected are selected instead.
In  Loop Selects all notes that are partially or completely inside the 
boundaries of the left and right locators (only visible if lo-
cators are set).
From Start 
to CursorSelects all notes that begin to the left of the project cur-
sor.
From Cursor 
to EndSelects all notes that end to the right of the project cur-
sor.
Equal Pitch – 
all OctavesThis function requires that a single note is selected. It se-
lects all notes of this part that have the same pitch (in any 
octave) as the currently selected note.
Equal Pitch – 
same OctaveAs above, but selects notes of the exact same pitch only 
(same octave).
Select Con-
trollers in Note 
RangeSelects the MIDI controller data within range of the se-
lected notes, see below.
All notes of the corresponding 
pitch are selected. 
						

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The MIDI editors
Moving and transposing notes
To move notes in the editor, use any of the following me-
thods:
Click and drag to a new position.
All selected notes will be moved, maintaining their relative positions. If 
Snap is activated, this determines to which positions you can move the 
notes, see “Snap” on page 344.
Use the up and down arrow keys on the computer key-
board.
This method allows you to transpose the selected notes, without risking 
to move them horizontally. You can also use the Transpose function (see 
“Transpose” on page 330) for this. Note that pressing [Shift] and using 
the up and down arrow keys will transpose notes in steps of one octave.
Transpose is also affected by the global transpose setting, see “The 
Transpose functions” on page 103.
Use the Move to Cursor function on the Edit menu.
This moves the selected notes to the project cursor position.
Select a note and adjust its position or pitch on the info 
line.
See “Editing on the info line” on page 348.
Use the Move buttons in the Nudge palette on the tool-
bar.
This moves the selected note(s) by the amount set on the Quantize pop-
up menu. 
By default, the Nudge palette is not shown on the toolbar – see “Using 
the Setup options” on page 471 for more information.
ÖNote that when you move selected notes to a different 
position, any selected controllers for these notes will move 
accordingly.
See also “Moving and copying events” on page 354.
You can also adjust the position of notes by quantizing 
(see “The Quantizing functions” on page 326).
Duplicating and repeating notes
Notes are duplicated much in the same way as events in 
the Project window:
Hold down [Alt]/[Option] and drag the note(s) to a new 
position.
If Snap is activated, this determines to which positions you can copy 
notes (see “Snap” on page 344).
Selecting Duplicate from the Edit menu creates a copy 
of the selected note and places it directly after the original.
If several notes are selected, all of these are copied “as one unit”, main-
taining the relative distance between the notes.
Selecting “Repeat…” from the Edit menu opens a dia-
log, allowing you to create a number of copies of the se-
lected note(s).
This works like the Duplicate function, but you can specify the number of 
copies.
You can also perform the Repeat function by dragging: 
Select the note(s) to repeat, press [Alt]/[Option], click the 
right edge of the last selected note and drag to the right.
The longer to the right you drag, the more copies are created (as indi-
cated by the tooltip).
Using cut and paste
You can use the Cut, Copy and Paste options on the Edit 
menu to move or copy material within a part or between 
different parts. When you paste copied notes, you can ei-
ther use the regular Paste function or the function “Paste 
Time” from the Range submenu of the Edit menu.
 “Paste” inserts the copied notes at the project cursor position 
without affecting existing notes.
 “Paste Time” inserts at the project cursor position, but moves 
(and if necessary, splits) existing notes to make room for the 
pasted notes.
!Note also that you can restrict movement to horizon-
tal or vertical only by holding down [Ctrl]/[Command] 
while dragging.
Selecting “Paste Time” with this data on the clipboard 
and the project cursor here…
…will give you this. 
						

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The MIDI editors
Resizing notes
To resize a note, use one of the following methods:
Position the arrow tool at the start or end of the note, so 
that the pointer takes on the shape of a small double ar-
row. Click and drag to the left or right to resize the note.
This method allows you to resize the note from either direction.
Click with the Pencil tool within the note box and drag 
to the left or the right (to make the note shorter or longer, 
respectively).
With both these methods, the resulting length will be a 
multiple of the Length Quantize value on the toolbar.
Use the Trim Start/End buttons on the Nudge palette on 
the toolbar.
This resizes the selected note(s) by moving their start or end positions, in 
steps according to the Length Quantize value on the toolbar. By default, 
the Nudge palette is not shown on the toolbar – see “Using the Setup op-
tions” on page 471 for more information.
Select the note and adjust its length on the info line.
See “Editing on the info line” on page 348 for details on info line editing.
Use the Trim tool, see “Using the Trim tool” on page 342.
Splitting notes
There are three ways to split notes:
Clicking on a note with the Scissors tool splits the note 
at the position you pointed (taking the Snap setting into 
account if activated).
If several notes are selected, they are all split at the same position.
If you select “Split at Cursor”, from the Edit menu all 
notes that are intersected by the project cursor are split at 
the cursor position.
If you select “Split Loop”, from the Edit menu all notes 
that are intersected by the left or right locator are split at 
the locator positions.
Gluing notes
Clicking on a note with the Glue Tube tool will “glue it to-
gether” with the next note of the same pitch. The result will 
be one long note spanning from the start of the first note 
to the end of the second note and with the properties (ve-
locity, etc.) of the first note.
Muting notes
Individual notes can be muted in the Key Editor, as op-
posed to muting an entire MIDI part in the Project window. 
This allows you to exclude notes from playback, but keep 
the option to bring them back again at any time. To mute a 
note, use one of the following methods:
Click on it with the Mute tool.
Drag a rectangle with the Mute tool, enclosing all notes 
you want to mute.
Select the note(s) and choose Mute from the Edit menu. 
The default key command for this is [Shift]-[M].
Muted notes are “dimmed” in the note display.
To unmute a note, either click it or enclose it with the Mute 
tool, or select it and choose Unmute from the Edit menu. 
The default key command for this is [Shift]-[U].
Deleting notes
To delete notes, either click on them with the Eraser tool 
or select them and press [Backspace].
Editing on the info line
The info line shows the values and properties of the se-
lected event(s). If a single event is selected, its values are 
displayed on the info line. If several events are selected, 
the info line shows the values of the first of these events in 
yellow.
Several events are selected. 
						

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The MIDI editors
You can edit the values on the info line using regular value 
editing. This allows you to move, resize, transpose or 
change velocity of events in a very precise manner. It is 
also possible to click the Pitch or Velocity field in the info 
line and play a note on your MIDI keyboard – the pitch or 
velocity will be adjusted according to the note you played.
ÖIf you have several events selected and change a value, 
all selected events will be changed by the set amount.
ÖIf you have several events selected, hold down [Ctrl]/
[Command] and change a value, the change will be abso-
lute.
In other words, the value setting will be the same for all selected events.
How the Key Editor handles drum maps
When a drum map is assigned to a MIDI or instrument track 
(see “Working with drum maps” on page 361), the Key Ed-
itor will display the drum sound names as defined by the 
drum map.
In Cubase, the name of the drum sound is displayed in the 
following locations:
This allows you to use the Key Editor for drum editing, e. g. 
when editing drum note lengths (which may be necessary 
for some external instruments) or when editing several 
parts, to identify drum events.
How the Key Editor handles Expression maps
When an expression map is assigned to a MIDI track (see 
the chapter “VST Expression” on page 372), the Key Editor 
will display the musical articulations defined for that map, in 
the following locations:
For more information, see the chapter “VST Expression” 
on page 372.
Editing notes via MIDI
You can change the properties of notes via MIDI. For ex-
ample, this can be a fast way to get the right velocity value, 
since you will hear the result even as you edit:
1.Select the note you want to edit.
2.Click on the MIDI Input button on the toolbar.
Click this button to enable editing via MIDI.
In the info line, in the Pitch field. In the Mouse Note Value field.
In the event itself (provided that the 
zoom factor is high enough). When dragging a note.
In the info line.
In the event itself if the vertical zoom factor 
is high enough. If the horizontal zoom factor 
is high enough, the attribute description is 
also shown. In the Controller lane. 
						

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The MIDI editors
3.Use the note buttons on the toolbar to decide which 
properties should be changed by the MIDI input.
You can enable editing of pitch, note-on and/or note-off velocity.
With this setting, the edited notes will get the pitch and velocity values 
of the notes input via MIDI, but the note-off velocities will be kept as 
they are.
4.Play a note on your MIDI instrument.
The note selected in the editor will get the pitch, velocity and/or note-off 
velocity of the played note.
The next note in the edited part is automatically selected, 
making it easy to quickly edit a series of notes.
If you want another try, select the note again (e. g. by 
pressing the left arrow key on the computer keyboard) and 
again play a note on your MIDI instrument.
Step input
Step input, or step recording, is when you enter notes one 
at a time (or one chord at a time) without worrying about 
the exact timing. This is useful e.g. when you know the part 
you want to record but are not able to play it exactly as you 
want it.
Proceed as follows:
1.Click the Step Input button on the toolbar to activate 
Step Input mode.
2.Use the note buttons to the right to decide which 
properties should be included when you input the notes.
For example, you may not want to include the velocity and/or note-off ve-
locity of the played notes. It is also possible to turn off the pitch property, 
in which case all notes will get the pitch C3, no matter what you play.
3.Click anywhere in the note display to set the start po-
sition (the desired position of the first note or chord).
The step input position is shown as a blue line in the note display, and in 
the lower mouse pointer display in the toolbar.
4.Specify the desired note spacing and length with the 
Quantize and Length Quantize pop-up menus.
The notes you input will be positioned according to the Quantize value 
and have the length set with the Length Quantize value. For instance, if 
you set Quantize to 1/8 notes and Length Quantize to 1/16 note, the 
notes will be sixteenth notes, appearing on each eighth note position.
5.Play the first note or chord on your MIDI instrument.
The note or chord appears in the editor and the step input position ad-
vances one quantize value step.
ÖIf Move Insert mode is activated, all notes to the right 
of the step input position will be moved to “make room” for 
the inserted note or chord.
Move Insert mode is activated.
6.Continue in the same way with the rest of the notes or 
chords.
You can adjust the Quantize or Length Quantize value as you go along, 
to change the timing or note lengths. You can also move the step input 
position manually by clicking anywhere in the note display.
To insert a “rest”, press the right arrow key on the com-
puter keyboard.
This advances the step input position one step.
7.When you’re done, click the Step Input button again 
to deactivate step input.