Steinberg Cubase 8 Manual

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Working with text
About this chapter
In this chapter you will learn:
• Which different types of text are available.
• How to enter and edit text.
• How to set font, size, and style.
• How to enter lyrics.
Adding and editing text symbols
This section describes the general procedure for adding and editing text symbols. 
There are several different types of text symbols, but the basic procedures are the 
same (except for block text symbols and page text symbols).
RELATED LINKS
Different types of text on page 1256
Block Text on page 1259
Page Text on page 1261
Inserting a text symbol
PROCEDURE
1. Make sure that the correct staff is active.
2. If you wish, select a font, size, and style for the text (or select a text attribute).
You can also change these settings after you inserted the text.
3. In the Symbols Inspector, open a symbol tab.
The different text symbols are found on the Other tab.
4. Right-click the text symbol on the tab to select the layer for which you want 
add text.
Not all text symbols are available for all layers. 
						

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5. Click the text symbol and click in the score at the position where you want the 
text to appear.
If you are adding lyrics, you should click above or below a note (lyrics are centered 
around each note and positioned vertically to where you clicked).
6. Enter the text in the text box that appears.
You can use [Backspace] to delete letters, and move the cursor with the arrow keys.
7. When you are done, press [Return].
The text appears. You can move, duplicate or delete it as with any symbol.
RELATED LINKS
Selecting font, size, and style for the text on page 1253
Lyrics on page 1257
Importing Karaoke Lyrics as Text
If you activate the “Import Karaoke Lyrics as Text” option in the Preferences dialog 
(MIDI–MIDI File page), karaoke lyrics from MIDI files are converted to text on import. 
You can edit it in the same way as regular text.
About the melisma lines
When you add a text symbol, you can find a handle at the right edge of the text. By 
dragging this handle to the right, you can extend a “melisma line” from the text. This 
has several uses:
• If you are adding lyrics and want to indicate that a syllable should be sung over 
several notes:
• If the text is an advice about articulation or playing style, and you want it to 
apply to a certain musical phrase only:
• If the text is an advice about articulation or playing style, and you want it to 
apply from that point on in the score: 
						

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In the Score Settings dialog (Text tab), you can find two settings that determine the 
appearance of the melisma lines for text symbols:
• The Melisma Style pop-up menu is where you specify whether the line is solid 
or dotted.
• The Melisma End pop-up menu allows you to choose whether the end of the 
line is plain, has an arrow, or forms a “bracket” up or down.
Making space
Dragging staves is a way to edit distances within staves or between grand staves. 
Auto Layout makes the program “go through“ the score and makes adjustments to 
measure widths, staff distances, etc.
RELATED LINKS
Dragging staves on page 1293
Auto Layout on page 1297
Editing the text
If you made a mistake when typing or for some other reason want to change text, 
double-click on a text block with the Object Selection tool, edit the text and press 
[Return] to close it.
• It is also possible to replace all occurrences of a certain word in the score, 
without having to edit the texts manually.
RELATED LINKS
Find and replace on page 1265
Selecting font, size, and style for the text
PROCEDURE
1. Select the text that you want to make settings for.
If nothing is selected, the settings you make are the “default settings”. The next time 
you insert text, these settings are used.
2. Open the Score Settings dialog and select the Text page. 
						

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3. Select a font from the Font pop-up menu.
How many and which fonts appear depends on what typefaces you have installed on 
your computer.
IMPORTANT
For regular text you should avoid the “Steinberg” fonts. These are the fonts Cubase 
uses for all scoring symbols, etc.
4. Select a text size from the Size pop-up menu (or enter one manually in the text 
field).
5. You can also add one or several font options using the checkboxes and 
pop-up menus.
6. Click Apply to apply the settings to the selected text.
Note that you can select other text blocks while the dialog remains open – the dialog 
is updated to reflect the settings of the currently selected text.
7. When you are done, close the Score Settings dialog.
Special style options
Most of the options are common text style variations such as bold, italic, underline, 
etc. But there are also a few special style options:
Frame
Allows you to put the text in a rectangular (“Box”) or oval frame.
Melisma options
These determine the appearance of the “melisma line”.
Positioning
Allows you to select which side of the text block (left or right) is used for 
calculating its position. This has an effect in situations where that text block is 
moved automatically (as a result of an Auto Layout function, when you move 
bar lines manually, etc.). If, for example, the text block appears just in front of 
a note (to the left of it), it appears in a more sensible position after the 
adjustment, if the “Right” option is selected.
Alignment: Left/Center/Right
Allows you to specify the alignment of the text. These options are only valid for 
texts with more than one line.
RELATED LINKS
About the melisma lines on page 1252 
						

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Text attribute sets
A text attribute set can be seen as a “preset” containing all font, size, and style 
settings. By creating text attribute sets for the settings you use most often, you can 
save a lot of time.
Creating a text attribute set
PROCEDURE
1. Open the Score Settings dialog on the Project page and select the Font 
Settings subpage.
2. Open the Attribute Sets tab.
3. On the Font Set pop-up menu, select the “Empty” set.
4. Select a font, specify a size, and add style options using the checkboxes.
The options are the same as when you make font settings on the Text page in the 
Score Settings dialog (see above).
5. Click in the text field of the Font Set pop-up menu and enter a name for the 
new text attribute set.
6. Click Store to save the new text attribute set.
Using text attribute sets
To apply the settings in the text attribute set to one or several text blocks, select 
them, select the set from the Font Set pop-up menu on the Text page in the Score 
Settings dialog and click Apply. You can also apply a text attribute set to a text block 
directly in the score by right-clicking it and selecting the set from the context menu.
• If you select a text attribute set on the Text page when no text is selected in 
the score, the settings are used the next time you insert some text.
NOTE
After you have selected a set for a text block, there is a “link” between the text and 
the attribute set. Any changes to the attribute set affects all texts that use it (see 
below). You can still edit any font settings manually (on the Project–Font Settings 
subpage) but then the “link” to the attribute set is removed. 
						

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Editing text attribute sets
If you edit the settings in a text attribute set, all texts using this particular set are 
affected. This is very practical, since it allows you to use the same number of 
“generic” sets for all your projects (for titles, comments, lyrics, etc.), and simply 
change the fonts, sizes, etc. for a different project if necessary. This also makes it 
easier to move projects between computers (which may not have the same fonts 
installed).
PROCEDURE
1. In the Score Settings dialog on the Project–Font Settings subpage, select the 
Attribute Sets tab.
2. From the Font Set pop-up menu, select the attribute set that you want to edit.
3. Change the settings as desired.
This includes the name of the set.
4. Click Apply.
Different types of text
You can add various types of text to the different layers of the score. The selected 
layer specifies which type of text is available.
Regular text
This type of text is inserted by selecting Text in the Other tab. You can insert this 
type of text on all layers.
The text is tied to the bar and staff position. If you move the bar or the entire staff, it 
moves with it.
Pasting text
You can paste text (e. g. from another program) into a text symbol in the score. To 
do this, select the text symbol and right-click it. Then, select “Text From Clipboard” 
from the context menu. This option is also available on the Functions submenu of 
the Scores menu. 
						

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Similarly, you can copy selected text by using the “Text To Clipboard” option from 
the context menu.
Lyrics
This type of text is inserted by selecting Lyrics on the Other symbol tab. You can 
insert this type of text only on note layers.
When you insert lyrics, you should click below or above the note the syllable 
belongs to. The text then appears horizontally centered around the note and 
vertically positioned to where you clicked. You can later move it up or down, as with 
any symbol.
Lyrics are tied to the note position. If you move the note, the text moves with it. The 
spacing between notes is also adjusted to make the lyrics fit.
Inserting lyrics for a number of notes
PROCEDURE
1. With lyrics selected, click below or above the first note with the Draw tool.
2. A text input field opens. Enter the text (the word or syllable) for that note.
3. Press the [Tab] key.
The program moves on to the next note.
4. Input text for this note and press [Tab] again.
5. Proceed until the last note and then press [Return] or click outside the text 
box.
When you insert lyrics this way, the positions of the notes are automatically adjusted 
so that no lyric “block” overlaps another. If this is not what you want, you can activate 
the “Don’t Sync Lyrics” option in the Score Settings dialog on the Project–Notation 
Style subpage (Lyrics category). If this is activated, the note positions are not 
affected, which may be preferable.
When entering words with several syllables you normally separate the syllables with 
a dash (-). By default, the dash signs are automatically centered between the syllables  
						

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– if this is not what you want, activate the “Don’t Center Hyphens” option in the Score 
Settings dialog, on the Project–Notation Style subpage (Lyrics category).
Lyrics and measure widths
When you first enter lyrics, the result may look crammed, since the words take up 
more space than the notes (the lyrics are also selected just after entering the last 
word, which makes them look a bit odd when overlapping). To remedy this, use the 
auto layout function to automatically adjust the measure widths.
RELATED LINKS
Auto Layout on page 1297
Adding a second verse
To insert a second line of lyrics, proceed as follows:
PROCEDURE
1. Enter the new lyrics above or below the existing verse.
2. Select all the words that should be in the new verse.
3. Right-click the selected words to open the context menu.
4. Select the appropriate verse from the Move To Verse submenu (Verse 1–6).
This assigns the selected lyrics to the selected verse.
To indicate that the words belong to another verse, they are automatically displayed 
in another color. However, all verses are printed in black as usual.
• To select all words in one verse only, press [Shift] and double-click on the first 
word in that verse.
This selects all following words in the verse.
Inserting lyrics into voices
Each voice can have its own lyrics. If you have a vocal arrangement with several 
voices, you can add lyrics to them, one by one.
PROCEDURE
1. Make sure that the correct voice is selected (on the extended toolbar).
2. In the Symbols Inspector, open the Other tab and click on the Lyrics symbol.
3. Click on the first note in the selected voice.
4. Enter the lyrics for this voice, using the [Tab] key to move from note to note, 
as described above.
5. Start over, by activating the next voice, clicking on the first note in that voice 
and proceeding as with the first voice.
6. If needed, adjust the position of the lyrics for each voice (see below). 
						

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RELATED LINKS
Entering notes into voices on page 1168
Moving lyrics
If you want to move the lyrics up or down, for example to make room for a second 
verse, proceed as follows:
PROCEDURE
1. Hold down [Shift] and double-click on the first word in the lyrics.
All lyric “blocks” are selected.
2. Drag one of the lyric blocks up or down.
All selected lyric blocks are moved accordingly.
Adding lyrics from the clipboard
If you want to prepare your lyrics in another program, you can import them into 
Cubase the following way:
PROCEDURE
1. Create the lyrics in another program.
Separate words with space as usual, syllables within words with dash signs (-).
2. Copy the text.
3. In Cubase, select the first note to which the lyrics will be added.
4. Open the Scores menu and select “Lyrics from Clipboard” from the Functions 
submenu.
The lyrics are added, starting at the selected note.
Block Text
Block Text allows you to import text from a file on disk or from the clipboard. 
Proceed as follows:
PROCEDURE
1. Click the Block Text symbol on the Other tab to activate the Draw tool.
You can insert block text on the project layer (for text that should appear on all pages, 
for example, the score title), on the layout layer (to print a title only for a particular track 
layout, for example, for a particular instrument), or on the note layer (this text only 
appears in the score for a particular part).
2. Click in the score where you want to insert the text.
A regular file dialog appears.
3. Select a file (TXT or RTF) to import. 
						

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4. Click Open.
The text in the file is inserted into the score.
Options for inserted Block Text
Right-clicking on inserted Block Text brings up a pop-up menu with the following 
options:
Settings
Brings up the RTF Settings dialog. You can also open this by double-clicking 
the Block Text.
Import Text
Imports text from a text file or RTF file. The imported text replaces any text 
currently inserted at the position of the Block Text.
Update Text
Reloads the text from the file.
Text From Clipboard
Pastes the text from the clipboard into the Block Text.
Text To Clipboard
Copies the Block Text to the clipboard.
Hide/Show
Hides the inserted block text. To make the text visible again, activate the Hide 
checkbox in the filter bar and select “Hide/Show” on the context menu.
Properties
Brings up the RTF Settings dialog.
The RTF Settings dialog
Selecting “Settings” from the context menu (or double-clicking the Block Text) 
brings up a dialog with settings for the Block Text. These are:
Font
Lets you select the font to use for the Block Text. If “No Change” is selected, 
the font in the original file (if applicable) is used.
Size
The text size, as a percentage.
Draw Frame
When this is activated, a frame is shown around the Block Text.