Steinberg Cubase Le 4 Manual

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The MIDI editors
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 System Exclusive messages” on page 201).
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 
Colors pop-up menu on the toolbar.
This affects how all MIDI events are shown in the List, Key and Drum 
editors – see “Coloring notes and events” on page 171.
To delete an event, select it and press [Backspace] or 
[Delete], or click on it with the Eraser tool in the event dis-
play.
Filtering
Clicking the “Show Filter View” button on the toolbar 
opens an additional filter bar that 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 controllers. By 
hiding these, the list becomes more manageable.To hide an event type, activate its checkbox on the filter 
view.
To see one event type only (hide all other event types), 
press [Ctrl]/[Command] and click its checkbox. If you 
[Ctrl]/[Command]-click again, all checkboxes are cleared 
(all events will be visible).
ÖThe event types remain hidden even if you close the fil-
ter view.
To make sure you see all events, open the filter view and check that all 
checkboxes are deactivated.
ÖThe filter view does not remove, mute or change the 
events in any way.
Masking
The Mask function is similar to the filter view but allows 
you to hide events based on other criteria as well. Pro-
ceed as follows:
1.Select an event (or several events) of the type you want 
to view.
2.Pull down the Mask pop-up menu on the toolbar and 
select one of the options.
The results are as follows:
Option Description
Event Types Only events with the type of the selected event will be 
shown. This does the same as the filter view but is 
quicker if you only want to view a single event type.
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 will be shown. If a 
controller event is selected, only controllers of the same 
type will be shown.
Event Channels Only events with the same MIDI channel value as the se-
lected event will be shown. 
						

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In addition to the above options, the menu also gives you 
access to the Logical Editor presets.
When you apply any of the Logical Editor presets to cre-
ate masking settings yourself, only the events that meet 
the criteria specified will be visible.
To deactivate the Mask function, select “Nothing” from 
the Mask pop-up menu.
The most typical usage of the Mask function is to view a 
certain type of controller only (e.g. Modulation, Breath 
Control, etc.). Since these are all the same event types 
(controller), this would not be possible using the filter 
view. With the “Event Types and Data 1” option on the 
Mask pop-up menu, it is!
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. veloci-
ties 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 into the value display – you don’t 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:
The value display can be hidden from view by clicking 
the “Show List Value View” button on the toolbar, so that it 
is not lit.
Event type Data 1 Data 2 Value display
Note Pitch
(note number)Velocity Velocity
Controller Controller type Controller 
amountController 
amount
Program 
ChangeProgram 
numberNot used Program 
number
Aftertouch Aftertouch 
amountNot used Aftertouch 
amount
Pitch Bend Bend amount Not used Bend amount
SysEx Not used Not used Not used 
						

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The MIDI editors
The Score Editor – Overview
The Score Editor shows the MIDI notes as a musical 
score. The window contains the following sections and 
items:
The toolbar
The Score Editor toolbar is similar to the toolbar in the Key 
Editor, with the following differences:
 The Score Editor toolbar has a button for showing or hiding 
the extended toolbar (see below).
 There are no active part settings – in the Score Editor, parts 
on different tracks are shown on different staves.
 There are no chord recognition functions.
The info line
The info line shows information about selected MIDI 
notes, just like in the Key and Drum Editors. You can edit 
all values on the info line using regular value editing (see 
“Editing on the info line” on page 176 for details).
To hide or show the info line, click the “Show Info” but-
ton in the toolbar.
The extended toolbar
The extended toolbar (shown or hidden by clicking the 
“Show Tool Strip” button on the main toolbar) contains 
the following items:
Note value buttons
Click one of these to select a note value for input. The “T” 
and “.” options are for triplet and dotted note values. You 
can also press [Ctrl]/[Command] and click one of the note 
value buttons – this will resize all selected notes to the 
note value you choose.
Enharmonic shift
Allows you to manually select whether a note should be 
shown with flat or sharp accidentals. See “Enharmonic 
Shift” on page 199.
The score display
The main area of the Score Editor window shows the 
notes in the edited parts on one or several staves. 
If you are editing one or several parts on the same track, 
as much of them as possible is shown on several staves – 
one above the other – just as with a score on paper.
Extended 
toolbar Info line Toolbar 
						

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If you are editing parts on several tracks, they are put on 
a grand staff (multiple staves, tied together by bar lines).
The number of measures across the screen depends on 
the size of the window and the number of notes in each 
measure.
The maximum number of bars across the page is four.
The end of the last part is indicated by a double bar line.
Unlike the other MIDI editors, the Score Editor does not 
have a ruler.
A conventional ruler would not make sense, since there is no exact rela-
tionship between a note’s horizontal position in the score and its musical 
position in the Project.
Score Editor operations 
Opening the Score Editor
To open one or several parts in the Score editor you pro-
ceed as with the other editors: select one or several tracks 
or any number of parts (on the same or different tracks), 
and select “Open Score Editor” from the Scores submenu 
on the MIDI menu. The default key command for this is 
[Ctrl]/[Command]+[R].
You can also select the Score editor as your default ed-
itor, allowing you to open it by double-clicking parts.
This is done with the Default Edit Action pop-up menu in the Preferences 
dialog (Event Display–MIDI page).
About editing parts on different tracks
If you have selected parts on two or more tracks and open 
the Score editor, you will get one staff for each track (al-
though you can split a staff in two, e.g. when scoring for 
piano). The staves are tied together by bar lines and 
placed in the order of the tracks in the Project window.
If you need to rearrange the staves: close the editor, go 
back into the Project window, drag the tracks to the order 
you want them, and open the Score Editor again.
The Active Staff
Just as in the other editors, all MIDI input (as when record-
ing from your instrument) is directed to one of the tracks, 
here called the Active staff. The Active staff is indicated by 
a rectangle in the left part of the first visible bar.To change the active staff, click in the staff you want to ac-
tivate.
Getting the score displayed correctly
When you open the Score Editor for a part recorded in 
real time, the score may not look as legible as you expect. 
The Score Editor can ignore the minor time variances in 
performance and make a neater score almost instantly. To 
achieve this, there are a number of Staff Settings that de-
termine how the program displays the music.
ÖNote that the time signature follows the time signa-
ture(s) on the Tempo track and are common to all tracks/
staves in the score.
There are two ways to open the Staff Settings dialog:
Double-click in the area to the left of the staff.
Activate a staff by clicking in it, and select “Staff Set-
tings…” from the Scores submenu on the MIDI menu.
The Staff Settings dialog appears.
!The settings you make in this dialog are independent 
for each staff (track), but common for a piano staff 
which you have created by choosing the “Split” Staff 
Mode option (see below).
The Active staff 
						

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Staff Mode
This pop-up determines how the staff should be shown: 
When set to “Single”, all notes in the part are shown in 
the same staff.
When set to “Split”, the part is split on the screen into a 
bass and treble clef, as in a piano score. 
You use the Split-Point value field to set the note where you want the 
split to occur. Notes above and including the split note will appear on the 
upper staff, and notes below the split note will appear on the lower staff.
Before and after setting a split at C3.
Display Quantize
Notes are not an absolute language, and you must give 
the program a few hints on how the score should be dis-
played. This is done using the Display Quantize section of 
the Staff Settings dialog.Here is a description of the functions:
Key and Clef
The correct Key and Clef are set using the two scroll bars 
in the Key & Clef section.
If you activate the “Auto Clef” checkbox, the program attempts to guess 
the correct clef, judging from the pitch of the music.
!These are only display values used for the graphics 
in the Score Editor. They do not affect the actual 
playback in any way.
Parameter Description
Notes Determines the smallest note value to be displayed and 
the “smallest position” to be recognized and properly dis-
played. Set this to the smallest significant note position 
used in your music. 
For example, if you have notes on odd sixteenth note po-
sitions, you should set this value to 16.
The “T” values are for triplet note values.
This setting is partly overridden by Auto Quantize (see 
below).
Rests This value is used as a “recommendation” – the program 
will not display rests smaller than this value, except where 
necessary. In effect, this setting also determines how the 
length of notes should be displayed. Set this value ac-
cording to the smallest note value (length) you want to be 
displayed for a single note, positioned on a beat.
Auto Quantize Generally, if your music contains mixed triplets and 
straight notes, try activating this checkbox. Otherwise, 
make sure it is deactivated.
Auto Quantize uses involved methods to make your score 
look as legible as possible. Auto Quantize allows you to 
mix straight notes with tuplets (triplets) in a part. But, 
Auto Quantize also uses the (display) Quantize value. If it 
cant find an appropriate note value for a certain note or 
group of notes, it will use the set Quantize value to dis-
play it.
If the part is imprecisely played and/or complex, Auto 
Quantize may have a problem “figuring out” exactly what 
you “mean”.
Dev This option is only available if Auto Quantize is on. When 
Dev (Deviation) is activated, triplets/straight notes will be 
detected even if they are not exactly “on the beat”. How-
ever, if you know your triplets/straight notes are perfectly 
recorded (quantized or entered by hand), turn this off.
Adapt This option is only available if Auto Quantize is on. When 
Adapt is activated, the program “guesses” that when one 
triplet is found, there are probably more triplets surround-
ing it. Turn this on if not all of your triplets are detected. 
						

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To set the clef and key for the lower staff, activate the 
“Lower Staff” checkbox in the Key/Clef section.
Display Transpose
Some instruments, for example a lot of brass instruments, 
are scored transposed. For this purpose, the Staff Set-
tings dialog allows you to specify a separate Display 
Transpose setting for each staff (track). This transposes 
the notes in the score (i.e. how they are displayed) without 
affecting how the notes play back. This allows you to 
record and play back a multi staff arrangement, and still 
score each instrument according to its own transposition.
Use the pop-up menu to select the instrument for which 
you are scoring.
You can also manually set a display transpose value with the Semitones 
box above.
Interpret. Flags
These provide additional options for how the score should 
be displayed:
Applying your settings
After you’ve made your settings, click Apply to apply them 
to the active staff. You can select another staff in the 
score and make settings for that, without having to close 
the Staff Settings dialog first – just remember to click Ap-
ply before you change staff, otherwise your changes will 
be lost.
Entering notes with the mouse
To enter notes into a part in the Score Editor, you use the 
Note tool. However, first you need to set the note value 
(length) and spacing:
Selecting a note value for input
This can be done in two ways:
By clicking the note symbols on the extended toolbar.
You can select any note value from 1/1 to 1/64th and turn on and off the 
dotted and triplet options by clicking the two buttons to the right. The se-
lected note value is displayed in the Length value field on the toolbar and 
in the Note tool cursor shape.
By selecting an option from the Length Q pop-up on the 
toolbar.
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.
Parameter Description
Clean Lengths When this is activated, notes that are considered to be 
chords will be shown with identical lengths. This is done 
by showing the longer notes as shorter than they are. 
When Clean Lengths is turned on, notes with very short 
overlaps are also cut off; a bit as with No Overlap (see 
below), but with a more subtle effect. 
No Overlap When this is activated one note will never be shown as 
overlapping another, lengthwise. This allows long and 
short notes starting at the same point to be displayed 
without ties; the long notes are cut off in the display. This 
will make the music more legible.
An example measure with No Overlap deactivated...
...and with No Overlap activated.
Syncopation When this function is activated, syncopated notes are 
shown in a more legible way.
This is a dotted quarter at the end of a bar when Syn-
copation is Off...
...and when it is On.
Shuffle Activate this function when you have played a shuffle 
beat and want it displayed as straight notes (not triplets). 
This is very common in jazz notation. Parameter Description 
						

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The MIDI editors
Positioning on screen is controlled by the current Quan-
tize value. If you for example set this to “1/8 Note” 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 piece. This doesn’t 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 with the Quantize pop-up on the 
toolbar.
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 
heading “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 entering score notes.
Entering a note
To add a note to the score, proceed as follows:
1.Make the staff active.
Notes are always put in on the active staff.
2.Select the type of note by selecting a note value.
This is described in detail above.
3.If you selected the note value by clicking on a symbol 
on the extended toolbar, the Note tool was automatically 
selected – otherwise select the Note tool from the toolbar 
or Quick menu.
4.Select a Quantize value.
As described above, the Quantize value will determine the spacing be-
tween notes. If you have Quantize set to “1/1 Note” you will only be able 
to add notes at downbeats. If you set Quantize to “1/8 Note” you will be 
able to add notes at all eighth note positions etc.
5.Click in the staff and keep the mouse button pressed.
A note appears under the mouse pointer.
6.Move the mouse horizontally to find the correct posi-
tion.
Check the lower mouse position box on the toolbar – the position is 
“magnetically” attracted to the grid defined by the current Quantize 
value. This allows you to easily find the correct position.
7.Move the mouse vertically to find the correct pitch.
The upper mouse position box shows the pitch at the pointer position, 
making it easy to find the right pitch.
8.Release the mouse button.
The note appears in the score.
The notes you enter will get the insert velocity value set in 
the insert velocity field on the toolbar. See “Setting velo-
city values” on page 172.
Selecting notes
There are several ways to select notes in the Score Editor:
By clicking
To select a note, click on its note head with the Arrow tool. 
The note head gets red to indicate that it is selected.
To select more notes, hold down [Shift] and click on 
them.
To deselect notes, hold [Shift] down 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.Press the mouse button with the Arrow tool in some 
free (white) space in the score.
2.Drag the mouse pointer.
A rectangle appears. You can drag to select voices on several voices or 
staves if you wish.
3.Release the mouse button.
All notes with their note heads inside the rectangle get selected.
If you want to deselect one or more of the notes, hold 
down [Shift] and click as described above.
Using the keyboard
By default, you can step through the notes in the staff us-
ing the left and right arrow keys. If you press [Shift], you 
will select the notes as you step through them.
With the quantize value set to “1/8 Note”, you can only 
input notes at eighth note positions. 
						

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If you want to use other keys for selecting notes, you 
can customize the settings in the Key Commands dialog 
on the File menu (in the Navigate category).
Deselecting everything
To deselect everything, simply click with the Arrow tool in 
some “free” (white) space in the score.
Deleting notes
Notes can be deleted in two ways:
Using the Eraser tool
1.Select the Eraser tool from the toolbar or Quick menu.
2.Click on the Note(s) you want to erase, one at a time 
or drag over them with the mouse button pressed.
Using the keyboard or delete menu item
1.Select the notes you want to delete.
2.Select Delete from the Edit menu, or press [Delete] or 
[Backspace] on the computer keyboard.
Moving notes
To move or transpose notes, proceed as follows:
1.Set the Quantize value.
The Quantize value will restrict your movement in time. You can not place 
the notes on positions smaller than the Quantize value. If Quantize for ex-
ample is set to “1/8 Note”, you will not be able to move the notes to a six-
teenth note position. However, you will be able to put them on any eighth 
note, quarter note, half note or whole note position.
2.If you want to hear the pitch of the note while moving, 
activate the speaker icon on the toolbar. 
When it is on, you will hear the current pitch of the “dragged” note.
3.Select the note(s) you plan to move.
4.Click one of the selected notes and drag it to a new 
position and/or pitch.
The horizontal movement of the note is “magnetically attracted” to the 
current Quantize value. The position boxes on the toolbar show what the 
new position and pitch for the dragged note will be.
5.Release the mouse.
The notes appear at their new position.
If you press [Ctrl]/[Command] and drag, movement is 
restricted to vertical or horizontal only (depending on in 
which direction you drag).You can also move selected notes by using key com-
mands, as assigned in the Nudge category in the Key 
Commands dialog.
When moving notes to the left or right using key commands, the notes 
will be moved in steps according to the current Quantize value. The keys 
assigned for up/down nudging will transpose notes in semitones steps.
Duplicating notes
1.Set the Quantize value and select the notes, as for 
moving.
2.Press [Alt]/[Option] and drag the notes to their new 
position.
If you want to restrict movements to one direction only, 
press [Ctrl]/[Command].
This works just as for moving, as described above.
[Alt]/[Option] is the default modifier key for copying/du-
plicating. If you like, you can change this in the Prefer-
ences dialog (Editing–Tool Modifiers page).
The entry for this is found in the Drag & Drop category (“Copy”).
Changing the length of notes
As described earlier (see “Getting the score displayed 
correctly” on page 194), the displayed length of a note 
isn’t necessarily the actual note length, but also depends 
on the Note and Rest Display Quantize settings in the 
Staff Settings dialog. This is important to remember when 
you change the length of a note, since it can give rise to 
confusing results.
There are several ways to change the length of a note in 
the Score Editor:
By using the Note tool
1.Select a Note value that you wish to apply to the Note.
This can be done by clicking a note value icon in the extended toolbar or 
by selecting a new Length value.
2.Select the Note tool if it isn’t already selected.
3.Hold down [Alt]/[Option] and click on the notes you 
wish to set to this length. 
						

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By using the note value icons on 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 are now given the length of the clicked note.
By using the info line
You can also edit length values numerically on the info 
line, just like in the Key and Drum Editors (see “Editing on 
the info line” on page 176).
Splitting and Gluing notes
If you have two notes strung together by a tie, and click 
on the “tied” note head with the Scissors tool, the note will 
be divided into two, with the respective length of the 
“main” and the tied note.
Conversely, if you click on a note with the Glue Tube 
tool it will be joined to the next note with the same pitch.
Enharmonic Shift
The buttons to the right on the extended toolbar allow you 
to shift the display of selected notes so that for example 
an F# (F sharp) is instead shown as a Gb (G flat) and vice 
versa:
1.Select the note(s) you want to affect.
2.Click on one of the buttons to display the selected 
note(s) a certain way.
The “off” button resets the notes to original display. The other five op-
tions are double flats, flats, No (no accidentals shown, regardless of 
pitch), sharps and double sharps.
Flip Stems
Normally the direction of the note stems is automatically 
selected according to the note pitches, but you can 
change this manually if you like:
1.Select the notes for which you want to change (flip) the 
stem direction.
2.Pull down the MIDI menu and select Flip Stems from 
the Scores submenu.
Working with text
You can use the Text tool to add comments, articulation or 
instrumentation advice and other text strings anywhere in 
the score:
Adding a text string
1.Select the Text tool from the toolbar or Quick menu.
2.Click anywhere in the score.
A text input line dialog box appears.
3.Enter the text and press [Return].
Editing text
To edit an already added text string, double-click it with 
the Arrow tool. This opens the text for editing, and you can 
use the arrow keys to move the cursor, delete characters 
with the [Delete] or [Backspace] keys and type new text as 
usual. Finish by pressing [Return].
To delete a text block, select it with the Arrow tool and 
press [Backspace] or [Delete].
You can move or duplicate text blocks by dragging (or 
[Alt]/[Option]-dragging) them, just as with notes.
Changing the text font, size and style
To change the font settings for the text you have added, 
proceed as follows:
1.Select the text block by clicking it with the Arrow tool.
2.Pull down the MIDI menu and select “Set Font” from 
the Scores submenu.
A Font Settings dialog appears, containing the following settings:
Item Description
Font  This is where you specify the font for the text. Which 
fonts are available on the pop-up menu depends on 
which fonts you have installed on you computer. You 
probably don’t want to use the “Steinberg” fonts – these 
are special fonts used by the program (e.g. for score 
symbols) and not suited for common text.
Size Sets the size of the text.
Frame Allows you to encase the text in a rectangular (box) or 
oval frame.
Text style op-
tionsThese checkboxes determine whether the text should be 
bold, italic, and/or underlined. 
						

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The MIDI editors
3.When you’ve made your settings, click Apply.
If you like, you can leave the Font Settings dialog open, select another 
text block and adjust the settings for that – just remember to click Apply 
before you select a new text block.
If you make settings in the Font Settings dialog with no 
text block selected, the settings will be used as default for 
all new text.
In other words, all text you enter from then on will get the settings you 
have specified (although you can of course change this manually for 
each text block as usual).
Printing
To print your score, proceed as follows:
1.Open the parts you want to print in the Score Editor.
Printing is only available from within the Score Editor.
2.Select Page Setup from the File menu and make sure 
all your printer settings are correct. Close the dialog.
3.Select Print from the File menu.
4.The standard Print dialog appears. Fill out the options 
as desired.
5.Click Print.
!If you change your setting for paper size, scale and 
margins now, the score may change its look.