Steinberg Cubase 8 Manual

							Entering and editing notes
Note values and positions1131
The Quantize value is set on the toolbar on the “Quantize Presets” pop-up menu:
• You can also assign key commands to the different Quantize values.
This is done in the Key Commands dialog (in the category “MIDI Quantize”).
• Just like in the other MIDI editors, you can use the Quantize Panel to create  o
 ther Quantize values, irregular grids, etc.
However, this is not often used when inputting score notes.
The mouse position info
While you often use the graphical position in the actual score to determine where 
the notes go, there are instances when you want to verify the position numerically 
using the mouse position info displayed in the status line.
The Mouse Note Position display shows the pitch according to the vertical position 
of the pointer in a staff. The Mouse Time Position display shows the “musical 
position” in bars, beats,  sixteenth notes, and ticks:
• The relation between beats and bars de pen
 ds 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  sign
 ature determines the number of sixteenth notes to each beat. In a quarter 
note based time signature (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 ti cks 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
2/21.1.1.0 1.1.3.01.1.5.01.1.7.0 1.2.1.01.2.3.01.2.5.01.2.7.0
4/4 1.1.1.0 1.1.3.01.2.1.01.2.3.0 1.1.3.01.3.3.01.4.1.01.4.3.0
8/8 1.1.1.0 1.2.1.01.3.1.01.4.1.0 1.5.1.01.6.1.01.7.1.01.8.1.0
Eighth note triplet positions 
						

							Entering and editing notes
Adding and editing notes1132
Sixteenth note positions
2/21.1.1.0 1.1.2.01.1.3.01.1.4.0 1.1.5.01.1.6.01.1.7.0 1.1.8.0
4/4 1.1.1.0 1.1.2.01.1.3.01.1.4.0 1.2.1.01.2.2.01.2.3.0 1.2.4.0
8/8 1.1.1.0 1.1.2.01.2.1.01.2.2.0 1.3.1.01.3.2.01.4.1.0 1.4.2.0
Adding and editing notes
Entering notes using the computer keyboard
A quick and easy way to enter notes, without having to decide on the pitch, position 
and note value first is using the computer keyboard. To enter a note, proceed as 
follows:
PROCEDURE
1. On the toolbar, activate the “Computer Keyboard Input” button.
Now you can enter notes using the computer keyboard.
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 step s, 
 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 st ep, passi
 ng 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 selected position 
and the insert position for the next note cha nges according to the Quantize value. If 
you press [Shift]-[Return], the insert position does not change, allowing you to enter 
chords.
2/2 1.1.1.0 1.1.2.401.1.3.80 1.1.5.01.1.6.40 1.1.7.80
4/4 1.1.1.0 1.1.2.401.1.3.80 1.2.1.01.2.2.40 1.2.3.80
8/8 1.1.1.0 1.1.2.401.2.1.80 1.3.1.01.3.2.40 1.4.1.80 
						

							Entering and editing notes
Adding and editing notes
1133
Entering notes with the mouse
To add a note to the score, proceed as follows:
PROCEDURE
1. Make the staff active.
Notes are always inserted on the active staff.
2. Select the desired note value.
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 on 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 only can add notes at downbeats. If you set Quantize to 1/8, you can 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 exactly 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.
Accidentals are shown beside the note to indicate the current pitch.
NOTE
If the “Show Note Info by the Mouse” option is activated in the Preferences dialog 
(Scores–Editing page), the position and pitch of the note is also shown in a “tooltip” 
next to the pointer while you are dragging. If you find that screen redraws are too 
sluggish, you may want to deactivate this option.
8. Release the mouse button.
The note appears in the score.
IMPORTANT
If you activate the “Animate Note Cursor” option 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.
RELATED LINKS
The active staff on page 1100
Selecting a note value for input on page 1130 
						

							Entering and editing notes
Adding and editing notes
1134
Adding more notes
PROCEDURE
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 initially 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.
Without and with polyphonic voicing
• If two notes beginning at the same position have different lengths, the longer 
is displayed as a number of tied notes. To avoid this, you can either use the 
“No Overlap” feature or polyphonic voicing.
• One note is often 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” notation of syncopated notes (less 
ties), you need to use the syncopation feature.
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. 
						

							Entering and editing notes
Selecting notes
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• 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.
• Stem direction and length is normally automatic, but you can set it yourself.
• If you are scoring for piano and therefore (or for other reasons) need a split 
staff, there are special techniques for this.
RELATED LINKS
No Overlap on page 1158
Syncopation on page 1157
Accidentals and enharmonic shift on page 1181
Graphic moving of notes on page 1198
Background: Note stems on page 1177
Split (piano) staves on page 1146
Polyphonic voicing on page 1163
Selecting notes
In the operations described in the rest of this chapter, you often work on selected 
notes. The text below describes how to select notes:
By clicking
To select a note, click on the note head with the Object Selection tool. The note 
head gets colored to indicate that it is selected.
• To select more notes, hold down [Shift] and click on them.
• To deselect notes, hold down [Shift] and click on them again.
• If you hold down [Shift] and double-click on a note, this note and all the 
following notes in the same staff are selected.
Using a selection rectangle
PROCEDURE
1. Click in an empty area in the score with the Object Selection tool and keep 
the mouse button pressed.
2. Drag the mouse pointer to create a selection rectangle. 
						

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Selecting notes
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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 step through the notes on the 
current track, i.
 e. in a split system, you 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 deleting), you should select the first note, not the tied 
note.
IMPORTANTIMPORTANTIMPORTANTIMPORTANT
There is a setting for this in the Preferences dialog (Scores
						

							Entering and editing notes
Moving notes
1137
Moving notes
In the following, you can find descriptions of the various methods to move notes, as 
well as related features.
Moving by dragging
PROCEDURE
1. Set the Quantize value.
The Quantize value restricts your movement in time. You cannot place notes on 
positions smaller than the Quantize value.
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 Time Position and Mouse Note Position displays in the 
status line show the new position and pitch for the dragged note.
NOTE
If the “Show Note Info by the Mouse” option is activated in the Preferences dialog 
(Scores–Editing page), the position and pitch of the note is also shown in a “tooltip” 
next to the pointer while you are dragging. If you find that screen redraws are too 
sluggish, you may want to deactivate this option.
4. Release the mouse button.
The notes appear at their new position.
• If you press [Ctrl]/[Command] and drag, movement is restricted to vertical or 
horizontal (depending on the direction in which you drag).
• If you move notes vertically and the “Keep moved Notes within Key” option is 
activated in the Preferences dialog (Scores–Editing page), the notes are 
transposed within the current key only.
RELATED LINKS
Selecting a Quantize value on page 1130
Moving by using key commands
Instead of dragging the note with the mouse, you can assign key commands for this:
• The corresponding commands can be found in the Nudge category in the Key 
Commands dialog.
• When moving notes to the left or right using key commands, the notes are 
moved in steps according to the Quantize value.
The keys assigned for up/down nudging transpose notes in semitone steps. 
						

							Entering and editing notes
Moving notes
1138
Moving across staves – the Lock button
If you are editing several tracks, you may want to move notes from one staff to 
another.
PROCEDURE
1. Make the desired Quantize settings and select the notes.
Make sure to only select notes on the same staff.
2. Make sure that the “L” (Lock) button on the extended toolbar 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.
The “L” Lock button is deactivated.
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) appears.
The Snap mode
The notes you move (or copy) snap to positions defined by the note length and 
Quantize values. Using the Snap Type pop-up menu on the Score Editor toolbar you 
can select 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 certain position relative 
to a grid line always maintains that relative position to the grid when moved 
(or copied).
Acoustic Feedback
To hear the pitch of the note while moving, activate the speaker icon (Acoustic 
Feedback) on the toolbar. 
						

							Entering and editing notes
Moving notes
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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 layers” (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–Note 
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 extended toolbar to bring 
up a pop-up menu, showing which object types are associated with that layer. 
A checkmark for an object type means it belongs to that layer. If no checkmark 
is shown, you can select the object type on the menu to move it to that layer.
To lock a layer, click the corresponding layer button, so that it is disabled not 
highlighted. You can only select or move objects whose Layer button is activated.
NOTE
There 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.
RELATED LINKS
Using the lock layers on page 1225
Background: The different layers on page 1206
Displaying layers
To see which score objects you assigned to which layer, you can activate and 
deactivate the Layer buttons on the extended toolbar.
• To display all the score objects that you assigned to the different note layers, 
activate layers 1, 2, or 3. 
						

							Entering and editing notes
Duplicating notes
1140
• To display all the score objects that are associated with the layout layer, 
activate the Layout Layer (L) button.
• To display all the score objects that are associated with the project layer, 
activate the Project Layer (P) button.
• To get an overview of all layers, activate the Colorize Layer (A) button. This 
deactivates all other layer buttons and displays the score objects in different 
colors, where each color stands for a specific type of layer.
Duplicating notes
To duplicate notes in the score, proceed as follows:
PROCEDURE
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.
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 that the 
“Keep moved Notes within Key” option 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/duplicating. 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”).
NOTE
You can also move or copy whole bars by dragging the bar handles.
RELATED LINKS
The Snap mode on page 1138
Moving and duplicating with the bar handles on page 1229
Cut, copy, and paste
• To cut notes, select them and choose Cut from the Edit menu (or use a key 
command, by default [Ctrl]/[Command]-[X]).
The notes are now removed from the score and put on the clipboard.
• To copy notes, select them and choose Copy from the Edit menu (or use a 
key command, by default [Ctrl]/[Command]-[C]).