Steinberg Cubase 5 Operation Manual

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Entering and editing notes 
						

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Entering and editing notes
About this chapter
In this chapter you will learn:
 How to make various settings for how notes are displayed.
 How to enter notes.
 How to use tools and settings to make the score as legible as 
possible.
 How to set up a split (piano) staff.
 How to work with multiple staves.
Score settings
Before you start entering notes, you need to make some 
initial staff settings in addition to those described in the 
chapter “The basics” on page 493. To understand why 
and how these settings and the note data in the score in-
teract, please read the chapter “How the Score Editor 
works” on page 488.
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.
The Score Settings dialog shows the current settings for 
the active staff. For detailed information on the Staff Set-
tings dialog, see the chapter “Staff settings” on page 524.
Applying settings and selecting other staves
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).
ÖAlways click Apply before making another staff active 
– otherwise your settings will be lost!
Staff presets
When you want to reuse settings made for one track in 
other tracks, you will save some time by creating a staff 
preset (see “Working with staff presets” on page 525).
ÖThere are a number of staff presets available, set up to 
suit various instruments, etc.
The presets are accessed via 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 the staff. Use them as they 
are, or as starting points for your own settings.
Suggested initial settings
When you start out entering notes, your staff settings 
should make your score display the notes as entered. We 
suggest the following:
ÖIt is very important that you understand how the Dis-
play Quantize values for notes and rests interact with the 
score. If you select too large a notes/rests value, the notes 
you “click in” may not appear as intended. 
Please read “How the Score Editor works” on page 488. If you have 
mixed triplets and straight notes, see “Display Quantize and interpreta-
tion Options” on page 526.
Option Description
Display Quantize: Notes 64
Display Quantize: Rests 64
Auto Quantize Activated
Syncopation Off
Consolidate Rests Off
Clean Lengths Off
No Overlap Off
Shuffle Off
Key As required
Clef As required
Auto Clef Activate this if you want the program to se-
lect a treble or bass clef automatically.
Display Transpose 0
Options tab settings As is
Polyphonic tab settings Staff Mode: Single (for split staves, see 
“Split (piano) staves” on page 521)
Tablature tab settings Tablature Mode deactivated 
						

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Entering and editing notes
Note values and positions
Two of the most important settings for entering notes (and 
the ones you will change most often) are the length of the 
note (the note value) and the minimum spacing between 
notes (the Quantize value).
Selecting a note value for input
You can choose the length for entering notes as follows:
By clicking the note symbols on the extended toolbar.
You can select any note value from 1/1 to 1/64 and activate/deactivate 
the dotted and triplet options by clicking the two buttons to the right.
The selected note value is displayed in the Length Quantize field on the 
toolbar and also reflected by the cursor shape of the Insert Note tool.
By selecting an option from the Length Quantize pop-up 
menu on the toolbar.
By assigning key commands to the different length 
values.
This is done in the Key Commands dialog on the File menu, in the cate-
gory “Set Insert Length”.
About unusual note values
Not all note values can be selected directly, for example 
double dotted notes. Such notes are created by changing 
the length of the note after you have entered it (see 
“Changing the length of notes” on page 520), by gluing 
notes together (see “Lengthening a note by gluing two no-
tes together” on page 520) or by using the Display Length 
feature.
Selecting a Quantize value
When you move the mouse pointer over the score, you will 
see that the position box on the toolbar tracks your move-
ment and shows the current position in bars, beats, six-
teenth notes and ticks.Positioning on screen is controlled by the current Quantize 
value. If you set this to 1/8, for example, you can only insert 
and move notes to eighth note positions, at quarter notes, 
at half bars or at bar positions. It is a good strategy to set 
the Quantize value to the smallest note value in the project. 
This does not stop you from inputting notes at “coarser” 
positions. However, if you set the Quantize value to too 
small a note value, it is easier to make mistakes.
The Quantize value is set on the toolbar in the Quantize 
pop-up menu:
You can also assign key commands to the different 
Quantize values.
This is done in the Key Commands dialog on the File menu, under the 
category “MIDI Quantize”.
Just like in the other MIDI editors, you can use the 
Quantize Setup dialog to create other Quantize values, ir-
regular grids, etc.
However, this is not often used when inputting score notes.
The “mouse position box”
While you will most often use the graphical position in the 
actual score to determine where the notes go, there are 
instances when you will want to verify the position numer-
ically using the mouse position box:
With the Quantize value set to 1/8, you can only input notes at 
eighth note positions. 
						

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Entering and editing notes
The upper field shows the pitch according to the vertical 
position of the pointer in a staff. The lower field shows the 
“musical position” in bars, beats, sixteenth notes and ticks:
The relation between beats and bars depends on the 
time signature: In 4/4 there are 4 beats to a bar. In 8/8 
there are eight, in 6/8 there are six, etc.
The third number is the sixteenth note within the beat. 
Again, the time signature determines the number of six-
teenth notes to each beat. In a quarter note based time sig-
nature (4/4, 2/4, etc.) there are four sixteenth notes to each 
beat, in an eighth note based time signature (3/8, 4/8, etc.), 
there are two sixteenth notes, etc.
The last value is in ticks, with 480 ticks per quarter note 
(and thus 120 ticks per sixteenth note).
The figures below show some note positions and their 
corresponding position values:
Eighth note positions
Eighth note triplet positionsSixteenth note positions
Adding and editing notes
Entering notes using the computer keyboard
A quick and easy way to enter notes, without having to de-
cide on the pitch, position and note value first is using the 
computer keyboard. To enter a note, proceed as follows:
1.On the toolbar, activate the “Keyboard Input” button. 
Now you can enter notes using the computer keyboard.
The “Keyboard Input” button
2.Hold down [Alt]/[Option].
A note with the note value specified in the extended toolbar appears. By 
default, the insert position is the first position of the bar and the pitch is C3. 
You can however change this using the computer keyboard.
You can change the pitch of the note by using the up 
and down arrow keys.
To transpose the note in octave steps, use the Page Up/Page Down keys.
To change the insert position of the note, use the right 
and left arrow keys.
Note that for position changes, the Quantize value is taken into account.
To change the length of the note, hold down [Shift] and 
use the right and left arrow keys.
This changes the note value step by step, passing from one Quantize 
value to the next.
3.To insert the note, press [Return].
The note with the specified pitch and note value is inserted at the se-
lected position and the insert position for the next note changes accord-
ing to the Quantize value. If you press [Shift]-[Return], the insert position 
does not change, allowing you to enter chords.
1.1.7.0
1.1.1.0
1.2.3.0
1.4.1.0 8/8 2/2
4/4
1.1.1.0
1.1.1.01.1.3.0
1.1.3.0
1.2.1.01.1.5.0
1.2.1.0
1.3.1.0
8/8 2/2
4/4
1.8.1.0 1.3.1.0 1.2.1.0
1.5.1.01.2.3.0
1.3.3.0
1.6.1.01.2.5.0
1.4.1.0
1.7.1.01.2.7.0
1.4.3.0
4/4 2/2
8/81.1.1.0
1.1.1.0
1.1.1.01.1.2.40
1.1.2.40
1.1.2.401.1.3.80
1.2.1.80 1.1.3.80
4/4 2/2
8/81.1.5.0
1.2.1.0
1.4.1.80 1.3.1.01.1.6.40
1.2.2.40
1.3.2.401.1.7.80
1.2.3.80
2/2
4/4
8/81.1.1.0
1.1.1.0
1.1.1.01.1.2.0
1.1.2.0
1.1.2.01.1.3.0
1.1.3.0
1.2.1.0 1.2.2.01.1.4.0 1.1.4.0
2/2
4/4
1.4.1.0 1.1.5.0
1.2.1.0
1.3.1.01.1.6.0
1.2.2.0
1.3.2.01.1.7.0
1.2.3.01.1.8.0
1.4.2.0 1.2.4.0
8/8 
						

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Entering and editing notes
Entering notes with the mouse
To add a note to the score, proceed as follows:
1.Make the staff active.
Notes are always inserted on the active staff. See “The active staff” on 
page 496 for details.
2.Select the desired note value.
See “Selecting a note value for input” on page 513.
3.If you select the note value by clicking on a symbol on 
the extended toolbar, the Insert Note tool is automatically 
selected – otherwise select the Insert Note tool from the 
toolbar or context menu.
4.Select a Quantize value.
The Quantize value determines the spacing between notes. If you set 
Quantize to 1/1 you will only be able to add notes at downbeats. If you set 
Quantize to 1/8 you will be able to add notes at eighth note positions, etc.
5.Click in the staff and keep the mouse button pressed.
The Insert Note tool changes into a note symbol (showing the note ex-
actly as it would be inserted in the score). 
6.Move the mouse horizontally to find the correct position.
7.Move the mouse vertically to find the correct pitch.
ÖIf the option “Show Note Info by the Mouse” is acti-
vated in the Preferences dialog (Scores–Editing page), 
the position and pitch of the note will also be shown in a 
“tooltip” next to the pointer while you’re dragging.
If you find that screen redraws are too sluggish, you may want to deacti-
vate this option.
8.Release the mouse button.
The note appears in the score.
Adding more notes
1.If you want the next note to have a different length 
value, select the corresponding note symbol.
2.If you need finer positioning, or if the current value is 
too fine, change the Quantize value.3.Move the mouse to the desired position, and click.
Notes input at the same position are automatically interpreted as chords, 
see below.
About the interpretation
The notes may not always appear in the score as you ini-
tially expect them to. This is because there are a number 
of situations that require special techniques and settings. 
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 parts of a chord. 
To get independent voicing (for example notes with different 
stem directions), such as for vocal material, you need to use 
polyphonic voicing – see “Polyphonic voicing” on page 531.
Without and with polyphonic voicing
 If two notes beginning at the same position have different 
lengths, the longer will be displayed as a number of tied notes. 
To avoid this, you will either have to use the “No Overlap” fea-
ture (see “No Overlap” on page 528) or polyphonic voicing 
(see “Polyphonic voicing” on page 531).
 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 more “modern” no-
tation of syncopated notes (less ties), you need to use the 
syncopation feature, see “Syncopation” on page 527.
The same note, without and with Syncopation
 If you want a long note to be displayed as two (or more) tied 
notes, you can use the Cut Notes tool for this.
 If a note has the wrong accidental, this can be changed. See 
“Accidentals and enharmonic shift” on page 542.
!If you activate the option “Animate Note Cursor” in 
the Preferences dialog (Scores–Editing page), you 
do not need to keep the mouse button pressed to see 
the note as it would be inserted in the score.
Accidentals are shown beside the note 
to indicate the current pitch. 
						

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Entering and editing notes
 If two notes on the same position are too close to each other 
or if you want their “graphical order” in the score reversed, you 
can do this without affecting playback. See “Graphic moving 
of notes” on page 550.
 Stem direction and length is normally automatic, but you can 
set it yourself. See “Background: Note stems” on page 541.
 If you are scoring for piano and therefore (or for other reasons) 
need a split staff, there are special techniques for this, see 
“Split (piano) staves” on page 521 and “Polyphonic voicing” 
on page 531.
Selecting notes
In the operations described in the rest of this chapter, you 
will often work on selected notes. The text below de-
scribes how to select notes:
By clicking
To select a note, click on the note head with the Object 
Selection tool. The note head turns red 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 se-
lected.
Using a selection rectangle
1.Click in an empty area in the score with the Object Se-
lection tool and keep the mouse button pressed.
2.Drag the mouse pointer to create a selection rectangle.
You can drag to select notes on several voices or staves if you wish.
3.Release the mouse button.
All notes with note heads inside the rectangle are selected.
If you want to deselect one or more of the notes, hold 
down [Shift] and click on them.
Using the keyboard
By default, you can step through (and select) the notes in 
the staff using the left and right arrow keys. If you press 
[Shift], you can select a series of notes as you step 
through them.
If you are working with polyphonic voices, you will step 
through the notes on the current track, i.e. in a split sys-
tem, you will step through the staves.
If you want to use other keys for selecting notes, you 
can customize the settings in the Key Commands dialog 
(in the Navigate category).
Selecting tied notes
Longer notes are often displayed in the score as one note 
with a tie. If you intend to select the entire note (e. g. for de-
leting), you should select the first note, not the tied note.
Deselecting everything
To deselect everything, simply click in an empty area of 
the score with the Object Selection tool.
Selected notes
!There is a setting for this in the Preferences dialog 
(Scores–Editing page): If you activate “Tied notes 
selected as Single Units”, the whole note will be 
selected, even if you click on one of the tied notes. 
						

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Entering and editing notes
Moving notes
In the following, you will find descriptions of the various 
methods to move notes, as well as related features.
Moving by dragging
Proceed as follows:
1.Set the Quantize value.
The Quantize value will restrict your movement in time. You cannot place 
notes on positions smaller than the Quantize value (see “Selecting a 
Quantize value” on page 513).
2.Select the note(s) you want to move.
You can select notes 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 mouse position box on the toolbar shows 
what the new position and pitch for the dragged note will be.
ÖIf the option “Show Note Info by the Mouse” is acti-
vated in the Preferences dialog (Scores–Editing page), 
the position and pitch of the note will also be shown in a 
“tooltip” next to the pointer while you’re dragging.
If you find that screen redraws are too sluggish, you may want to deacti-
vate 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 (depending on the direc-
tion in which you drag).
If you move notes vertically and the option “Keep moved 
notes within key” is activated in the Preferences dialog 
(Scores–Editing page), the notes will be transposed 
within the current key only.
Moving by using key commands
Instead of dragging the note with the mouse, you can as-
sign key commands for this:
The corresponding commands can be found in the 
Nudge category in the Key Commands dialog. They are 
listed as “Left”, “Right”, “Top” and “Bottom”.When moving notes to the left or right using key com-
mands, the notes will be moved in steps according to the 
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.Make the desired Quantize settings and select the 
notes.
Make sure to only select notes on the same staff.
2.Make sure the “L” (Lock) button on the extended tool-
bar is deactivated.
When this button is activated, you cannot move notes and other objects 
from one staff to another, which is handy if you need to transpose a note 
very high or low, for example.
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 Snap mode
The notes you move (or copy), will snap to positions de-
fined by the note length and Quantize values. Using the 
Snap Type pop-up menu on the Score Editor toolbar you 
can set the Snap mode used when moving or copying 
notes:
When using the “Grid” mode, notes you move (or copy) 
always snap to exact grid positions.
When using the “Grid Relative” mode, a note with a cer-
tain position relative to a grid line always maintains that 
relative position to the grid when moved (or copied).
The “L” (Lock) button is 
deactivated. 
						

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Entering and editing notes
Acoustic Feedback
Acoustic Feedback is activated.
To hear the pitch of the note while moving, activate the 
speaker icon (Acoustic Feedback) on the toolbar.
About the lock layers
When you are moving and editing notes in the score, you 
might accidentally move other objects nearby. To avoid 
this, assign different types of objects to different “lock lay-
ers” (up to three) and instruct Cubase 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 one of the layer buttons (1-2-3) on the ex-
tended 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 Lock Layer button, so that it is 
not blue. You can only select or move objects whose 
Layer button is activated. For more detailed information, 
see “Using the lock layers” on page 565.
ÖThere are also “L” and “P” layer buttons, for the layout 
and project layer.
Clicking these buttons allows you to lock the layout and project layers 
(see “Background: The different layers” on page 556).
Duplicating notes
To duplicate notes in the score, proceed as follows:
1.Set the Quantize value and select the desired notes.
You can duplicate any block of notes, even on several systems at the 
same time. The Snap mode applies, see “The Snap mode” on page 517.
2.Press [Alt]/[Option] and drag the duplicate notes to 
their new position.
If you want to restrict movements to one direction, 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 Preferences dialog (Scores–Editing page).
3.Release the mouse button to insert the notes.
[Alt]/[Option] is the default modifier key for copying/du-
plicating. If you like, you can change this in the Preferences 
dialog (Editing–Tool Modifiers page).
The entry for this is found in the Drag & Drop category (“Copy”).
ÖYou can also move or copy whole bars by dragging 
the bar handles, see “Moving and duplicating with the bar 
handles” on page 568.
Cut, copy and paste
To cut notes, select them and choose Cut from the Edit 
menu (or use a key command, by default [Ctrl]/[Com-
mand]-[X]).
The notes are now removed from the score and put on the clipboard.
To copy notes, select them and choose Copy from the 
Edit menu (or use a key command, by default [Ctrl]/[Com-
mand]-[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 
copied to the clipboard first are lost. 
						

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Entering and editing notes
Notes that you have put on the clipboard by cutting or 
copying can be inserted into the score again as follows:
1.Activate the desired staff.
2.Move the project cursor to the position where you 
want the first note to appear.
This is done by holding down [Alt]/[Option] and [Shift] and clicking at the 
desired position in the score.
3.Select Paste from the Edit menu (or use a key com-
mand, by default [Ctrl]/[Command]-[V]).
The notes are pasted in, beginning at the project cursor. If the cut or cop-
ied notes come from different staves, they will also be inserted on different 
staves. Otherwise, the notes are inserted on the active staff. They keep 
the pitch and relative positions they had when you cut or copied them. 
Editing pitches of individual notes
By dragging
The simplest way to edit the pitch of a note is 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 Preferences dialog (Scores–Editing page), notes 
are transposed within the current key only.
To avoid accidentally moving the note into another staff, 
activate the Lock button (see “Moving across staves – the 
Lock button” on page 517).
When you drag the mouse up and down before releas-
ing the button, accidentals are shown beside the note to 
indicate the current pitch.
This helps you verify the vertical position for the note.
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 the toolbar 
and activate “Transpose Palette” on the context menu.
Using key commands
Instead of transposing the note with the mouse, you can 
assign key commands for this.
The commands for which you can assign key commands 
are found in the Nudge category in the Key Commands 
dialog.
The commands are listed as “Top” (transpose one semitone up) and 
“Bottom” (transpose 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, see “The 
info line” on page 32.
If you have several notes selected and change the pitch 
on the info line, the changes are relative.
That is, all selected notes are transposed by an equal amount.
If you have several notes selected, hold down [Ctrl]/
[Command] and change the pitch on the info line, the 
changes are absolute.
That is, all selected notes are set to the same pitch.
Via MIDI
Proceed as follows:
1.On the toolbar, activate the MIDI Input button and the 
Record Pitch button to the right.
If you also want to change the note-on and/or note-off velocity of the notes 
via MIDI, this can be done by also activating the corresponding velocity 
buttons, as described in the chapter “The MIDI editors” on page 337
To edit notes via MIDI (pitches only), set up the buttons like this.
2.Select the first note you want to edit.
3.Press a key on your MIDI keyboard.
The note takes on the pitch of the key you pressed. The program then se-
lects the next note.
4.To change the pitch of the next selected note, simply 
press the desired key.
In this manner you can change the pitches of as many notes as you wish, 
by simply pressing the relevant keys. You can also use key commands 
(by default the left and right arrow key) to pass from one note to the 
other. For example, if you make a mistake, you can step back to the pre-
vious note by pressing the left arrow key. 
						

							520
Entering and editing notes
Changing the length of notes
When it comes to note lengths, the Score Editor is special 
in that it does not necessarily display the notes with their 
actual length. Depending on the situation, you may want to 
change the “physical length” of the notes or the “display 
length”.
Changing the “physical” length
This will change the actual length of the notes. The 
change will be audible when you play back the music.
By using the Insert Note tool
Proceed as follows:
1.Select the note symbol with the desired note value on 
the extended toolbar.
2.Hold down [Alt]/[Option] and click on the note(s) you 
wish to set to this length.
By using the extended toolbar
Using the extended toolbar is another quick way to set a 
number of notes to the same length:
1.Select the notes you want to change.
2.Hold down [Ctrl]/[Command] and click on one of the 
note icons on the extended toolbar.
All the selected notes now get the note value on which you clicked.
By using the info line
You can also edit length values numerically on the info 
line. The same rules apply as when changing the pitch of 
notes (see “Using the info line” on page 519).
Lengthening a note by gluing two notes together
You can create unusual note length values by gluing notes 
of the same pitch together.
1.Insert the notes you want to glue together (if they do 
not already exist).
2.Select the Glue tool from the toolbar or context menu.
The Glue tool on the context menu
3.Click on the first note.
This note will now be tied to the first following note with the same pitch.
4.If you want to glue more notes, click again.
By gluing together a quarter note, an eighth note and a sixteenth note…
…you get a double dotted quarter note.
Changing the display length
If you want to change the displayed length of notes with-
out affecting how they play back, the first thing to try is to 
adjust Display Quantize, either for the whole staff or for a 
separate section, using the Display Quantize tool (see 
“Inserting Display Quantize changes” on page 508). 
But you can also make display length adjustments to indi-
vidual notes in the Set Note Info dialog:
1.Double-click on the note.
The Set Note Info dialog opens.
!Remember that the appearance of notes and rests in 
the score is determined by the Display Quantize set-
tings on the Score Settings–Staff page. Depending 
on the Notes and Rests values, notes may be dis-
played as if they were longer than they really are (see 
“Display Quantize” on page 490).
!Make sure you have Display Quantize values for 
notes and rests that allow you to display notes of the 
created note value.