Steinberg Cubase 8 Manual

							Entering and editing notes
Deleting notes
1151
Using the Delete menu option or the keyboard
PROCEDURE
1. Select the notes that you want to delete.
2. Select Delete from the Edit menu, or press [Delete] or [Backspace] on the 
computer keyboard. 
						

							1152
Staff settings
About this chapter
In this chapter you will learn:
• How to make staff settings.
• How to work with staff presets.
Staff settings
Below follows a run-through of all staff settings, more detailed information about the 
ones already described and references to other places in the manual for some 
options.
The Staff page has four tabs – here, the Main tab is selected. 
						

							Staff settings
Making settings
1153
Making settings
PROCEDURE
1. Open the Score Settings and select the Staff page.
2. With the dialog open, make the desired staff active.
Click anywhere in a staff to make it active, or use the up and down arrow keys to step 
from staff to staff.
3. Select the desired tab and make all necessary settings.
The settings for regular staves are found on the Main and Options tab, the Polyphonic 
tab contains settings for split systems and polyphonic voices while the Tablature tab 
lets you set up tablature scores.
4. When you have made the desired settings, click Apply.
NOTE
If the “Apply closes Property Windows” option is activated in the Preferences dialog 
(Scores–Editing page), clicking Apply also closes the dialog.
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).
However, please note that you need to click Apply before making another staff active 
– otherwise your settings are lost!
IMPORTANT
Staff settings can be saved in the track presets.
RELATED LINKS
Track Presets on page 160
Working with staff presets
Making staff settings for your scores can be time-consuming. Staff presets allow 
you to reuse those settings whenever you work with a staff similar to one you have 
worked on before. A staff preset contains all the settings from the Staff page of the 
Score Settings dialog, except for the key.
• To save the current settings (including the settings on the Options tab, see 
below) click the Store button in the Presets section of the Staff page.
Enter a name for the preset in the name dialog that appears, and click OK. The 
preset is now available on the Presets pop-up menu (in all projects). 
						

							Staff settings
Staff names
1154
• There are a number of staff presets available, set up to suit various 
instruments, etc. The presets are accessed from the Presets pop-up menu on 
the Staff page of the Score Settings dialog or from the staff context menu, 
opened by right-clicking on the blue rectangle to the left of a staff.
Use them as they are, or as starting points for your own settings. Note that this 
loads the settings in the preset into the dialog – to apply these to a staff you 
must click the Apply button as usual. You can also apply staff presets directly 
in the score – see below.
• To remove a preset, select it from the pop-up menu and click the Remove 
button.
Applying a preset directly in the score
If you right-click on the blue rectangle to the left of a staff, a context menu appears, 
listing all available presets. Select one to apply it to the staff.
How staff presets are stored
The staff presets are stored as individual files in the Presets–Staff Presets folder 
within the Cubase program folder. The presets are available for selection in any 
project you create or edit.
Staff names
These fields allow you to specify a “long” and a “short” name for the staff. The long 
name is shown for the very first system for this staff in the score (at the start of the 
project), while the short name is shown for the remaining systems.
• Whether the names are shown at all is set in the Score Settings dialog on the 
Layout page.
• If you only want the “long name” to be shown (i. e. if you do not want a name 
shown for each system in the score), simply delete the short name.
• If the “Show Long Staff Names on new Pages” option is activated in the “Staff 
Names” section of the Score Settings dialog (Project page), the long name is 
shown at the beginning of each new page.
• You can also specify two separate subnames by double-clicking the staff 
name and entering them in the upper and lower text entry fields in the dialog 
that appears. 
						

							Staff settings
Key and clef
1155
Note that this is only displayed correctly, if you are in Page Mode and if “Show 
Staff Names to Left of Staff” is activated in the Score Settings dialog, on the 
Project–Notation Style subpage (Staff Names category).
RELATED LINKS
Staff names on page 1265
Key and clef
The basic key and clef settings are described in detail in another section (see 
below). There is also a Lower Staff checkbox which is only used in conjunction with 
split (piano) staves and polyphonic voicing.
• If you want to set a different key symbol, e. g. when scoring for French horn, 
activate the “Local Keys” option.
RELATED LINKS
Setting clef, key, and time signature on page 1106
In a split system on page 1111
Display Quantize and Interpretation Options
These two sections of the dialog contain a number of settings used to determine 
how the notes are interpreted. While these settings are more critical to making MIDI 
recorded music appear as legible as possible it is still important to have them set 
correctly when entering notes using the mouse. Below you can find descriptions of 
the settings.
There are “fixed” Display Quantize values plus an “Auto” option which should only 
be used when your music contains mixed straight notes and triplets.
RELATED LINKS
Adding Display Quantize changes on page 1124
Display Quantize on page 1090 
						

							Staff settings
Display Quantize and Interpretation Options
1156
Display Quantize values
Notes and Rests
• Generally, the Notes value should be set to a value equal to, or smaller than, 
the “smallest note position” that you want to be shown in the score.
• The Rests value should be set to a value equal to, or smaller than, the smallest 
note value (length) you want to be displayed for a single note, positioned on 
a beat.
• If the score contains only triplets, or mostly triplets, select one of the Triplet 
options.
Auto Quantize
• If the project contains no triplets or only triplets, deactivate this option.
• If the project contains mixed triplets and straight notes, activate this option 
(see below).
Deviation and Adapt
• When Deviation is activated, triplets/straight notes are detected even if they 
are not exactly “on the beat”. However, if you know your triplets/straight notes 
are perfectly recorded (quantized or entered by hand), deactivate this option.
• When Adapt is activated, the program “guesses” that when one triplet is 
found, there are probably more triplets surrounding it. Activate this option if 
not all of your triplets are detected.
If your music only contains “straight” notes or triplets
PROCEDURE
1. Specify a Notes value.
For example, if you have notes on odd sixteenth note positions, the Notes value should 
be set to 16 (sixteenth notes). The “T” values on the pop-up menu are for triplets.
2. Specify a Rests value.
For example, if you want a single short note on a beat (quarter note position) to be 
displayed as a quarter note, set the Rests value to 4 (quarter notes).
3. Deactivate the Auto Quantize option. 
						

							Staff settings
Display Quantize and Interpretation Options
1157
4. Set all the Interpretation Options.
These are described in detail below.
5. Examine the score.
6. If necessary, use the Display Quantize tool to insert “exceptions” to the staff 
settings.
RELATED LINKS
Inserting Display Quantize changes on page 1122
If your music contains mixed straight notes and triplets
PROCEDURE
1. Examine the score and decide if it mainly contains triplets or mainly “straight” 
notes.
2. Set the Notes value accordingly.
If the score is mainly triplets, select the smallest triplet note position used in the score. 
If it is mainly straight notes, select the smallest “ordinary” note position.
3. Set the Rests value as described above.
4. Activate the Auto Quantize option.
5. Activate the Deviation and Adapt flags if you need them.
Interpretation Options
Syncopation
Activate Syncopation when the program adds more ties to notes crossing beats 
and bar lines than you prefer. The following options are available:
Relax
When Syncopation is “relaxed”, the program applies syncopation in a number 
of common cases.
Full
Syncopation is on. 
						

							Staff settings
Display Quantize and Interpretation Options
1158
Off
Syncopation is off, with no exceptions.
For a “modern” notation of syncopated notes, activate Syncopation.
Without and with Syncopation
Again, without and with Syncopation
Note that you can insert “exceptions” to the Syncopation setting in the Score 
Settings dialog on the Staff page, by using the Display Quantize tool. You can also 
create tied notes in various combinations by using the Cut Notes tool.
Consolidate Rests
Activate this when you want small consecutive rests joined into one (an eight note 
rest and a sixteenth note rest joined to a dotted eighth note rest for example).
Consolidate Rests deactivated and activated
Clean Lengths
When this option is activated, the program interprets the length of your notes 
differently. A note’s length (in the display only) might be extended to the beginning 
of the next note or to the next Rests “position” for Display Quantize. An example:
• If a note is too short, you may get a rest just after it.
• When Clean Lengths is activated, the rest disappears.
A slightly short eighth note without and with “Clean Lengths”.
If using Clean Lengths does not help in a particular situation, you can manually 
resize the offending note(s) or use the Display Quantize tool.
RELATED LINKS
Inserting Display Quantize changes on page 1122
No Overlap
When notes starting at the same position have different lengths, the program tends 
to add more ties than you may want. This can be avoided by using No Overlap. 
						

							Staff settings
Display Transpose
1159
This recording in the Key Editor…
…is displayed like this when No Overlap is deactivated…
…and like this when No Overlap is activated.
You can insert “exceptions” to the No Overlap setting on the Staff page of the Score 
Settings dialog, by using the Display Quantize tool.
IMPORTANTIMPORTANTIMPORTANTIMPORTANT
Please note that there may be situations when neither of these alternatives is ideal. 
If you run into such a situation, it can probably be resolved by using polyphonic 
voicing.
RELATED LINKS
Polyphonic voicing on page 1163
Shuffle
In jazz it is very common to score a shuffled beat as straight notes, simply to make 
it more legible.
When the Shuffle flag is activated, the program searches for eighth note or sixteenth 
note pairs where the second note is played late (with a “swing feel” or as the third 
note in a triplet). Such pairs are displayed as regular eighth or sixteenth notes 
instead of triplet-based figures.
Without and with Shuffle
Display Transpose
This is used when preparing parts for instruments that are not scored at the actual 
concert key. For example, if you want the note C3 to be played by an alto sax, you 
have to score it as an A3 – nine semitones up. Luckily, the Display Transpose 
setting takes care of this for you:
• Use the pop-up menu to select the instrument for which you are scoring.
• If the pop-up menu does not list your instrument, you can set the desired 
transposition with the Semitones value field. 
						

							Staff settings
The Options tab
1160
NOTE
The Display Transpose setting does not affect playback or the actual pitch of the 
notes – it only changes how they are displayed and printed.
You can also insert Display Transpose changes anywhere in the score, by inserting 
a key change symbol and using the Transpose setting in the Edit Key dialog.
• In the Score Settings dialog, on the Project page (“Chord Symbols” 
subpage), deactivate the “Use Display Transpose” option if you do not want 
the chord symbols to be affected by the Display Transpose setting.
• You can disable Display Transpose by deactivating the “Display Transpose” 
button on the toolbar of the Score Editor.
RELATED LINKS
Display Transpose in the Edit Key dialog on page 1115
Chord Symbols on page 1250
Transposing instruments on page 1114
The Options tab
Clicking the Options tab in the dialog brings up another page with additional 
settings. Below follows a brief description of these, with references to more detailed 
explanations.
Switches
This section allows you to make beam settings.
Flat Beams
Activate this when you want the beams over notes to be flat (as opposed to 
slanted).