Steinberg Cubase 6 Manual

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The MIDI editors
For example, you may want to place some drum sounds 
near each other on the keyboard so that they can be easily 
played together, move sounds so that the most important 
sounds can be played from a short keyboard, play a sound 
from a black key instead of a white, and so on. If you never 
play your drum parts from a MIDI controller (but draw them 
in the editor) you need not care about the I-note setting.
O-notes (output notes)
The next step is the output. This is what happens when 
you play back the recorded note, or when the note you 
play is sent back out to a MIDI instrument in realtime (MIDI 
Thru):
The program checks the drum map and finds the drum 
sound with the pitch of the note. In our case, this is a C1 
note and the drum sound is the Bass Drum. Before the 
note is sent to the MIDI output, the second transformation 
takes place: the note number is changed to that of the 
O-note for the sound. In our example, the note sent to the 
MIDI instrument is a B0 note.
The O-note settings let you set things up so that the 
“Bass Drum” sound really plays a bass drum. If you are us
-
ing a MIDI instrument in which the bass drum sound is on 
the C2 key, you set the O-note for the Bass Drum sound 
to C2. When you switch to another instrument (in which 
the bass drum is on C1) you want the Bass Drum O-note 
set to C1. Once you have set up drum maps for all your 
MIDI instruments, you do not need to care about this any
-
more – you just select another drum map when you want 
to use another MIDI instrument for drum sounds.
The Channel and Output settings
You can set separate MIDI channels and/or MIDI outputs 
for each sound in a drum map. The following rules apply:
•When a drum map is selected for a track, the MIDI 
channel settings in the drum map override the MIDI chan
-
nel setting for the track.
In other words, the MIDI channel setting you make in the track list or In-
spector for the track is normally disregarded. If you want a drum sound to 
use the channel of the track, set it to channel “Any” in the drum map.
•If the MIDI output is set to “default” for a sound in a 
drum map, the sound uses the MIDI output selected for 
the track.
Selecting any other option allows you to direct the sound to a specific 
MIDI output.
By making specific MIDI channel and output settings for 
all sounds in a drum map, you can direct your drum tracks 
directly to another MIDI instrument simply by selecting an
-
other drum map – you do not need to make any channel or 
output changes for the actual track.
ÖTo select the same MIDI channel for all sounds in a 
drum map, click in the Channel column, press [Ctrl]/
[Command] and select the desired channel. All drum 
sounds are set to this MIDI channel. The same procedure 
can be used for selecting the same MIDI output for all 
sounds as well.
It can also be useful to select different channels and/or 
outputs for different sounds. This allows you to construct 
drum kits with sounds from several different MIDI devices, 
etc.
Managing drum maps
Selecting a drum map for a track
To select a drum map for a MIDI track, use the Map pop-
up menu in the Inspector or in the Drum Editor.
Selecting “No Drum Map” turns off the drum map func-
tionality in the Drum Editor. Even if you do not use a drum 
map, you can still separate sounds by name using a name 
list (see 
“Using drum name lists” on page 403).
!Initially, the Map pop-up menu only contains one 
map: “GM Map”. However, a number of drum maps 
are included on the program DVD – how to load 
these is described below. 
						

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The MIDI editors
The Drum Map Setup dialog
To set up and manage your drum maps, select Drum Map 
Setup from the Map pop-up menu or the MIDI menu. This 
opens the following dialog:
This is where you load, create, modify, and save drum 
maps. The list on the left shows the currently loaded drum 
maps; selecting a drum map in the list displays its sounds 
and settings on the right.
ÖThe settings for the drum sounds are exactly the same 
as in the Drum Editor (see 
“Drum map settings” on page 
400). As in the Drum Editor, you can click the leftmost col-
umn to audition a drum sound. 
ÖIf you audition a sound in the Drum Map Setup dialog 
and the sound is set to MIDI output “Default”, the output 
selected on the Output pop-up menu in the lower left cor
-
ner is used. When auditioning a default output sound in 
the Drum Editor, the MIDI output selected for the track is 
used, as described in section 
“The Channel and Output 
settings” on page 401.
Open the Functions pop-up menu in the top left corner to 
open a list of available functionalities:
ÖDrum maps are saved with the project files. If you have 
created or modified a drum map, use the Save function to 
store it as a separate XML file, available for loading into 
other projects. 
ÖIf you always want to have the same drum map(s) in-
cluded in your projects, you may want to load these into 
the template – see 
“Save as Template” on page 51.
O-Note Conversion
This function on the MIDI menu goes through the selected 
MIDI part(s) and sets the actual pitch of each note accord
-
ing to its O-note setting. This is useful if you want to convert 
a track to a “regular” MIDI track (with no drum map) and still 
have the notes play back the correct drum sound. A typical 
application is if you want to export your MIDI recording as a 
standard MIDI file (see 
“Exporting and importing standard 
MIDI files” on page 527) – by first performing an O-Note 
Conversion you make sure that your drum tracks play back 
as intended when they are exported.
Use Head Pairs and Edit in Scores (Cubase only)
These options are explained in detail in the section “Set-
ting up the drum map” on page 677.ButtonDescription
New MapClick this to add a new drum map to the project. The 
drum sounds are named “Sound 1, Sound 2”, and so on, 
and have all parameters set to default values. The map is 
named “Empty Map”, but you can rename it by clicking 
and typing in the list.
New CopyAdds a copy of the currently selected drum map. This is 
probably the quickest way to create a new drum map: se-lect the map that is similar to what you want, create a 
copy, change the desired drum sound settings, and re-name the map in the list.
RemoveRemoves the selected drum map from the project.
Load…Opens a file dialog, allowing you to load drum maps from 
disk. The Cubase DVD contains a number of drum maps 
for different MIDI instruments – use this function to load 
the desired maps into your project.
Save…Opens a file dialog for saving the drum map selected in 
the list. If you have created or modified a drum map, you 
can use this function to save it as a file on disk – this al
-lows you to load it into other projects. Drum map files 
have the extension “.drm”.
Edit head 
pairs…Allows you to customize the note pairs, see “Customizing note head pairs” on page 678.
Init Display 
NotesAllows you to reset the Display Notes entry to the original 
setting, i. e. the Pitch entry.
CloseCloses the dialog.
Button Description 
						

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The MIDI editors
Using drum name lists
Even if no drum map is selected for the edited MIDI track, 
you can still use the Drum Editor. As previously mentioned, 
the drum sound list then only has four columns: Audition, 
Pitch, Instrument (drum sound name), and Quantize. There 
is no I-note and O-note functionality.
In this mode, the names shown in the Instrument column 
depend on the selection on the Names pop-up menu, just 
below the Map pop-up menu in the Drum Editor.
The options on this pop-up menu are the currently loaded 
drum maps plus a “GM Default” item, which is always avail
-
able. This means you can use the drum sound names in any 
loaded drum map without using I-notes and O-notes if you 
want to. 
						

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The MIDI editors
The List Editor – Overview
The toolbar
The toolbar contains several items that are the same as in 
the Key Editor. The following toolbar items are unique to 
the List Editor:
•The Insert Event Type pop-up menu is used when creat-
ing new events.
This is where you determine what type of event to add (see “Inserting events” on page 405).
•The List Editor contains an additional value display.
•The List Editor has no info line (numerical editing is 
available in the list instead).
ÖIf you see an empty or incomplete list of items although 
the items are visible in the Key Editor, check if you have ac
-
tivated any filters (see “Filtering” on page 406).
The Filters bar
Similar to the info line and the status line, the Filters bar 
can be shown/hidden via the “Set up Window Layout” 
button (see 
“The status line” on page 378). The Filters bar 
allows you to hide events from view, based on their type 
and other properties (see 
“Filtering” on page 406).
The status line
This is the same as in the Key Editor (see “The status line” 
on page 378), except for the Current Note Position op-
tion, which is not available in the List Editor.
The event list
This lists all events in the selected MIDI part(s), in the or-
der (from top to bottom) in which they are played back. 
You can edit the event properties by using regular value 
editing, see 
“Editing in the list” on page 405.
The event display
This shows the events graphically. The vertical position of 
an event in the display corresponds to its entry in the list 
(i.
 e. to the playback order), while the horizontal position cor-
responds to its actual position in the project. This is where 
you add new parts or events, drag to move them, etc.
The value display
This display shows the “value” of each event, allowing for 
easy viewing and graphical editing. Typically, the value 
shown is the “Data 2” or “Value 2” property (amounts to 
MIDI controller events, velocity for notes, etc.). 
•To show or hide the value display, click the “Set up 
Window Layout” button on the toolbar and activate or de
-
activate the “Value Display” option.
Event display Event listValue 
display Ruler Toolbar
Filters barStatus line 
						

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The MIDI editors
List Editor operations
Customizing the view
You can click and drag the divider between the list and 
the event display to make one area wider and the other 
narrower. Furthermore, the list can be customized in the 
following ways:
•You can change the order of the columns by dragging 
the column headings.
•You can resize columns by dragging the dividers be-
tween the column headings.
Setting the display format
Just like in the Project window, you set the display format 
(bars+beats, seconds, etc.) by right-clicking in the ruler 
and selecting an option from the pop-up menu. This set
-
ting affects both the ruler and all start, end and length val-
ues shown in the list.
Zooming
You can change the horizontal magnification in the event 
display by using the zoom slider below the display or the 
Zoom tool (the magnification glass).
Inserting events
To add a new event to the edited part, proceed as follows:
1.Use the Insert Event Type pop-up menu on the toolbar 
to select the event type.
2.Select the Pencil tool and click in the event display at 
the desired position (relative to the ruler).
If you are creating note events, you can click and drag to set the length of 
the note.
The new event appears in the list and in the display. Its 
properties will be set to default values, but can be ad
-
justed in the list.
•Notes will get the insert velocity value set in the Insert 
Velocity field on the toolbar, see 
“Setting velocity values” 
on page 383.
Editing in the list
The list allows you to perform detailed numerical editing of 
the events properties. The columns have the following 
functionality:
ColumnDescription
LAn arrow in this column indicates the event that starts 
closest before the project cursor position. If you click in 
this column for an event, the project cursor is moved to 
the start of that event. Double-clicking moves the cursor 
position and starts/stops playback – useful for audition
-ing when editing in the list.
TypeThe event type. This cannot be changed.
StartThe start position of the event, shown in the format se-lected for the ruler. Changing this is the same as moving 
the event. Note that moving the event past any other 
event in the list will re-sort the list (the list always shows 
the events in the order they are played back).
EndThis is only used for note events, allowing you to view and 
edit the end position of a note (thereby resizing it).
LengthThis is only used for note events. It shows the length of 
the note – changing this resizes the note and automati-cally changes the End value as well.
Data 1This is the “data 1” or “value 1” property of the event. The 
content of this depends on the event type – for notes, this 
is the pitch, for example. Where applicable, the values are 
shown in the most relevant form. For instance, the Data 1 
value for notes is shown as a note number in the format 
selected in the Preferences dialog (Event Display–MIDI 
page). For further information, see the table in the section 
“Editing in the value display” on page 407.
Data 2This is the “data 2” or “value 2” property of the event. The 
content of this depends on the event type – for notes, this 
is the note-on velocity value, for example. For further in
-formation, see the table in the section “Editing in the value display” on page 407.
Data 3T h i s  i s  t h e  “ d a t a  3 ”  o r  “ v a l u e  3” property of the event. This 
value is only used for note events, where it corresponds 
with the note-off velocity.
ChannelThe MIDI channel of the event. Note that this setting is 
normally overridden by the channel setting for the track. 
To make a MIDI event play back on “its own” channel, set 
its track to channel “Any” in the Project window.
CommentThis column is used for some event types only, providing 
an additional comment about the event. 
						

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The MIDI editors
•You can edit several events at once. If several events 
are selected and you edit a value for one event, the other 
selected events’ values will be changed as well.
Normally, any initial value differences between the events will be main-tained – i. e. the values will change by the same amount. If you press [Ctrl]/
[Command] when you edit, however, all events will get the same value.
ÖFor SysEx (system exclusive) events, you can only edit 
the position (Start) in the list. However, when you click the 
Comment column, the MIDI SysEx Editor opens, in which 
you can perform detailed editing of system exclusive events 
(see 
“Working with SysEx messages” on page 407).
ÖWhen 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).
Editing in the event display
The event display allows you to edit the events graphically 
using the tools on the toolbar. You can edit single events 
as well as several selected events simultaneously.
•To move an event, click and drag it to a new position.
Note that moving the event past any other event in the display will re-sort 
the list (the list always shows the events in the order they are played 
back). As a result, the vertical position of the event in the display will 
change as well.
•To make a copy of an event, press [Alt]/[Option] and 
drag it to a new position.
•To resize a note, select it and drag its end point with the 
Arrow tool as in the Project window.
This only works with notes.
•To mute or unmute an event, click on it with the Mute 
tool.
You can mute or unmute several events in one go by enclosing them in a 
selection rectangle with the Mute tool.
•You can select a color scheme for the events with the 
Event Colors pop-up menu on the toolbar.
This affects how all MIDI events are shown in the MIDI editors, see “Col-oring notes and events” on page 382.
•To delete an event, select it and press [Backspace] or 
[Delete], or click on it with the Erase tool in the event dis
-
play.
Filtering
The Filters bar is displayed below the toolbar in the List 
Editor. It contains two sections. On the left, you can find 
controls for setting up complex filters, and on the right, 
you can exclude certain event types from being displayed.
•To show or hide the Filters bar, click the “Set up Win-
dow Layout” button on the toolbar and activate or deacti-
vate the Filters option.
The Show section (complex filtering)
On the left of the Filters bar, you find the Show pop-up 
menu. This can be used to filter the event display based 
on complex criteria. Proceed as follows:
1.Select one or more events that have the desired prop-
erties.
2.Pull down the Show pop-up menu and select one of 
the options.
•In the top section, the following options are available:
•Cubase only: In addition to these options, the menu also 
gives you access to the presets available in the Logical 
Editor. Using the “Setup…” item, you can directly open 
the Logical Editor. In this editor, you can create very com
-
plex filter settings (see the chapter “The Logical Editor, 
Transformer, and Input Transformer” on page 440). 
When you apply any of the Logical presets or use the Log-
ical Editor to create filter settings yourself, only the events 
that meet the specified criteria will be visible.
OptionDescription
No FocusSelect this to deactivate this filtering function.
Event TypesOnly events of the same type as the selected events will 
be shown. This is the same as activating event types in 
the Hide section.
Event Types 
and Data 1Only events of the same type and with the same “Data 1” 
value will be shown. For example, if a note event is se-lected, only notes with the same pitch are shown. If a 
controller event is selected, only controllers of the same 
type are shown.
Event 
ChannelsOnly events with the same MIDI channel value as the se-lected event will be shown. 
						

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The MIDI editors
The Hide section (filtering out event types)
The Hide section on the Filters bar allows you to hide spe-
cific event types from view. For example, it may be hard to 
find note events if the part contains a lot of controller data. 
By hiding the controllers, the list becomes more manage
-
able.
•To hide an event type, activate the corresponding 
checkbox on the Filters bar.
•To hide all event types except one, press [Ctrl]/[Com-
mand] and click the checkbox of the event type you want 
to view.
If you [Ctrl]/[Command]-click again, all checkboxes are cleared.
ÖThe event types remain hidden even if you hide the Fil-
ters bar. To make sure that you see all events, show the 
Filters bar and verify that all checkboxes are deactivated 
and that the Show pop-up menu is set to “No Focus”.
ÖFiltering events out does not remove, mute, or change 
the events in any way.
Editing in the value display
The value display to the right of the event display is a tool 
for quick viewing and editing of multiple values, e.
 g. veloc-
ities or controller amounts. The values are shown as hori-
zontal bars, with the bar length corresponding to the value.
A velocity ramp in the value display
You edit the values by clicking and dragging. Note that the 
pointer automatically takes on the shape of the Pencil tool 
when you move it over the value display – you do not have 
to select the Pencil tool for this.
Exactly which value is shown for an event depends on the 
event type. The following table shows what is displayed 
and edited in the Data columns and the value display:
•For note events there will also be a value in the Data 3 
column, which is used for note-off velocity.
•Note that for SMF and text events no values are dis-
played.
Working with SysEx messages
SysEx (System Exclusive) messages are model-specific 
messages for setting various parameters of a MIDI device. 
This makes it possible to address device parameters that 
would not be available via normal MIDI syntax.
Every major MIDI manufacturer has its own SysEx identity 
code. SysEx messages are typically used for transmitting 
patch data, i.
 e. the numbers that make up the settings of 
one or more sounds in a MIDI instrument.
Cubase allows you to record and manipulate SysEx data 
in various ways. The following sections point to various 
features that help you manage and create SysEx data.
To learn about the possibilities of the MIDI Device Man-
ager for controlling your device, see the chapter “Using 
MIDI devices” on page 356.
Bulk dumps
Recording a bulk dump in Cubase
In any programmable device, the settings are stored as 
numbers in computer memory. Change those numbers, 
and you will change the settings.
Event typeData 1Data 2Value display
NotePitch (note number)Note-on  velocityVelocity
ControllerController typeController  amountController  amount
Program  ChangeProgram  numberNot usedProgram  number
AftertouchAftertouch 
amountNot usedAftertouch amount
PitchbendBend amountNot usedBend amount
SysExNot usedNot usedNot used 
						

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The MIDI editors
Normally, MIDI devices allow you to dump (transmit) all or 
some settings in the device’s memory in the form of MIDI 
SysEx messages. A dump is therefore (among other 
things) a way of making backup copies of the settings of 
your instrument: sending such a dump back to the MIDI 
device will restore the settings. 
If your instrument allows the dumping of a few or all of its 
settings via MIDI by activating some function on the front 
panel, this dump will probably be recordable in Cubase.
1.Open the Preferences dialog from the File menu (on 
the Mac, this is located on the Cubase menu) and select 
the MIDI–MIDI Filter page.
This allows you to govern which MIDI event types are recorded and/or 
thru-put.
2.Make sure that recording of SysEx data is not filtered, 
by deactivating the SysEx checkbox in the Record section. 
The SysEx checkbox in the Thru section can be left as it is 
(by default activated).
This way, SysEx messages will be recorded but not echoed back out to 
the instrument (which might lead to unpredictable results).
3.Activate recording on a MIDI track and initiate the 
dump from the front panel of the instrument.
4.When done recording, select the new part and open 
the List Editor from the MIDI menu.
This allows you to check that the SysEx dump was recorded – there 
should be one or several SysEx events in the part/event list.
Transmitting a bulk dump back to a device
1.Make sure that the MIDI track with the System Exclusive 
data is routed to the device.
You may want to check your device’s documentation to find details about 
which MIDI channel should be used, etc.
2.Solo the track.
This might not be necessary, but it is a good safety measure.
3.Make sure that the device is set up to receive SysEx 
messages (often, receiving SysEx is turned off by default).
4.If necessary, put the device in “Standby to Receive 
System Exclusive” mode.
5.Play back the data.
Some advice
•Do not transmit more data than you need. If all you want 
is a single program, do not send them all, it will only make 
it harder to find the one you want. Usually, you can specify 
exactly what you want to send.
•If you want the sequencer to dump the pertinent sounds 
to your instrument each time you load a project, put the 
SysEx data in a silent “count-in” before the project itself 
starts.
!If your MIDI instrument does not offer a way to initiate 
a dump “by itself”, you have to send a Dump Request 
message from Cubase to start the dump. In that case, 
use the MIDI SysEx Editor (see “Editing SysEx mes-
sages” on page 409) to insert the specific Dump Re-
quest message (see the instrument’s documentation) 
at the beginning of a MIDI track. When you activate 
recording, the Dump Request message will be played 
back (sent to the instrument), the dump will start and 
be recorded as above. 
						

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The MIDI editors
•If the dump is very short (for instance, a single sound) 
you can put it in the middle of the project to re-program a 
device on the fly. However, you can achieve the same ef
-
fect by using Program Change. This is definitely prefera-
ble, since less MIDI data is sent and recorded. Some 
devices may be set up to dump the settings for a sound as 
soon as you select it on the front panel.
•If you create parts with useful SysEx dumps, you can 
put these on a special muted track. When you want to use 
one of them, drag it to an empty unmuted track and play it 
back from there.
•Do not transmit several SysEx dumps to several instru-
ments at the same time.
•Make a note of the current device ID setting of the in-
strument. If you change this, the instrument may refuse to 
load the dump later.
Recording SysEx parameter changes
Often you can use SysEx to remotely change individual set-
tings in a device, e. g. open a filter, select a waveform, 
change the decay of the reverb, etc. Many devices are also 
capable of transmitting changes made on the front panel as 
SysEx messages. These can be recorded in Cubase, and 
thus incorporated into a regular MIDI recording.
Here’s how it works: let’s say you open up a filter while 
playing some notes. In that case, you will record both the 
notes and the SysEx messages generated when you 
opened of the filter. When you play it back, the sound 
changes exactly like it did when you recorded it.
1.Open the Preferences dialog from the File menu, se-
lect the MIDI–MIDI Filter page and make sure that SysEx 
is recorded, i.
 e. the SysEx checkbox in the Record section 
is deactivated.
2.Make sure that the instrument is actually set to trans-
mit changes of front panel controls as SysEx messages.
3.Record normally.
When you are done, you can check in the List Editor that the events were 
recorded properly.
Editing SysEx messages
While SysEx events are shown in the List Editor/Project 
Browser (Cubase only), their entire content is not (only the 
beginning of the message is displayed in the Comment 
column for the event). Also, you cannot edit the event 
(other than moving it) as you can with other event types in 
the List Editor.
Instead, you have to use the MIDI SysEx Editor for this.
•To open the MIDI SysEx Editor for an event, click in the 
Comments column for the event in the List Editor/Project 
Browser.
The display shows the entire message on one or several 
lines. SysEx messages always begin with F0 and end with 
F7 with a number of arbitrary bytes in between. If the mes
-
sage contains more bytes than fit on one line, it continues 
on the next. The Address indication to the left helps you 
find out on which position in the message a certain value 
resides.
You can edit all values except for the first (F0) and last one 
(F7).
Selecting and viewing values
To select a value, either click on it or use the cursor keys. 
The selected byte is displayed in various formats:
• In the main display, values are shown in hexadecimal format.
• To the right of this, values are shown in ASCII format.
• At the bottom of the dialog, the selected value is shown in 
ASCII, binary, and decimal formats. 
						

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The MIDI editors
Editing a value
The selected value can be edited directly in the main dis-
play or in the ASCII, decimal, and binary displays. Just 
click on it and type in the desired value as usual.
Adding and deleting bytes
Using the Insert and Delete buttons or their corresponding 
computer keyboard keys, you can add and delete bytes 
from the message. Inserted data will appear before the se
-
lection.
•To delete the complete SysEx message, select it in the 
List Editor and press [Delete] or [Backspace].
Importing and exporting data
The Import and Export buttons allow you to get SysEx data 
from disk and to export the edited data to a file. The file 
has to be in “MIDI SysEx” (.SYX) binary format. Only the 
first dump in a SYX file will be loaded.
ÖDo not confuse this format with MIDI files, which have 
the extension .mid.