Steinberg Cubase Le 8 Manual
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MIDI Editors Drum Editor 491 Controller Display The area at the bottom of the Drum Editor window is the controller display. It consists of one or several controller lanes that show one of the following properties or event types: • Velocity values of the notes • Pitchbend events • Aftertouch events • Poly Pressure events • Program Change events • System Exclusive events • Any type of continuous controller event Velocity values are shown as vertical bars in the controller display. Each velocity bar corresponds to a note in the note display. Higher bars correspond to higher velocity values. Events other than velocity values are shown as blocks. The block corresponds to the event values. The beginning of an event is marked by a curve point. When you select a line in the drum sound list, only the velocity controller events that belong to the note events on this line are displayed in the controller display. If you select more than one line in the drum sound list, the controller lane shows all velocity controller events for all notes on the selected lines. This is useful when you have to adjust the controller values between different drum sounds. NOTE Unlike note events, controller events have no length. The value of a controller event in the display is valid until the beginning of the next controller event.
MIDI Editors Drum Editor 492 Drum Sound List The drum sound list lists all drum sounds by name and lets you adjust and manipulate the drum sound setup in various ways. NOTE The number of columns in the list depends on whether a drum map is selected for the track or not. Pitch Actual note number of the drum sound. This is what links notes on a MIDI track to drum sounds. For example, with the GM Map, all MIDI notes with the pitch C1 are mapped to the Bass Drum sound. Instrument Name of the drum sound. Quantize This value is used when entering and editing notes. Mute Mute drum sounds. I-Note Input note for the drum sound. When this MIDI note is sent into Cubase, that is you play it, the note is mapped to the corresponding drum sound and automatically transposed according to the Pitch setting for the sound. O-Note Output note, that is the MIDI note number that is sent out every time the drum sound is played back. Chan MIDI channel, on which the drum sound is played back. Output MIDI output on which, the drum sound is played back. If you set this to Default, the MIDI output selected for the track is used. RELATED LINKS Muting Notes and Drum Sounds on page 494
MIDI Editors Drum Editor Operations493 Drum Map and Names Menus Below the drum sound list are two pop-up menus that are used for selecting a drum map for the edited track or, if no drum map is selected, a list of drum sound names. R ELATED LINKS Drum Maps on page 495 Drum Editor Operations This section describes the principa l editing operations within the Drum Editor. Creating and Editing Note Events with the Drum Tool • To create a note, select the Drumstick tool and click in the Drum Editor. If Snap is deactivated on the toolbar, the note event appears exactly where you clicked. If you have activated Snap and deactivated Use Global Quantize on the toolbar, the note events snap to positions according to the quantize value set for the sound in the drum sound list. You can set up different quantize values for different drum sounds. If Snap and Use Global Quanti ze are activated, the note snaps to positions according to the Quantize setting on the toolbar. The length of the inserted note is determined by the Inse rt Length setting on the toolbar. However, if this is set to Drum-Map Link, the note gets the length of the quantize value for the drum sound. • To remove a note, select the Drums tick tool and click on an existing note. • To audition the drum sounds, click the leftmost column of the drum sound list. Moving and Transposing Note Events There are several options to move and transpose note events. • To move note events in the editor, select the Object Sel ection tool and drag them to a new position. All selected note events are moved, maintaining their relative positions. Snap is ta ken into account. • To allow only horizontal and vertical movement, hold down [Ctrl]/[Command] while dragging.
MIDI Editors Drum Editor Operations 494 • To move note events via the Nudge Palette buttons on the toolbar, select the note events and click a Nudge Palette button. This moves the selected note events by the amount that is set on the Quantize pop-up menu. • To move note events to the project cursor position, select the note events and select Edit > Move to > Cursor. • To move a note event via the info line, select a note event and edit the Position or Pitch on the info line. • To transpose note events, select the note events and use the up and down arrow keys. • To transpose note events via the Transpose Setup dialog, select the note events and select MIDI > Transpose Setup. • To transpose note events in steps of one octave, press [Shift] and use the up and down arrow keys. NOTE • When you move selected note events to a different position, any selected controllers for these note events move accordingly. • You can also adjust the position of note events by quantizing. R ELATED LINKS Transpose on page 422 Muting Notes and Drum Sounds IMPORTANTIMPORTANTIMPORTANTIMPORTANT The mute state for drum sounds is part of the drum map. Therefore, any other tracks using the same map are also affected. • To mute individual notes, click or enclose them with the Mute tool, or select Edit > Mute. • If a drum map is selected, the drum sound list has a Mute column. Click in the Mute column for a drum sound to mute that sound. • To mute all drum sounds other than the selected one, click the Solo Instrument button on the toolbar. RELATED LINKS Selecting a Drum Map for a Track on page 498
MIDI Editors Drum Editor Operations 495 Drum Maps A drum kit in a MIDI instrument is most often a set of different drum sounds with each sound placed on a separate key. For example, the different sounds are assigned to different MIDI note numbers. One key plays a bass drum sound, another a snare, and so on. Different MIDI instruments often use different key assignments. This can be troublesome if you have made a drum pattern using one MIDI device and then want to try it on another. When you switch devices, it is very likely that your snare drum becomes a ride cymbal or your hi-hat becomes a tom, etc., because the drum sounds are distributed differently in the two instruments. To solve this problem and to simplify several aspects of MIDI drum kits, such as using drum sounds from different instruments in the same drum kit, Cubase features drum maps. A drum map is a list of drum sounds, with a number of settings for each sound. When you play back a MIDI track for which you have selected a drum map, the MIDI notes are filtered through the drum map before they are sent to the MIDI instrument. The map determines which MIDI note number is sent out for each drum sound and which sound is played on the receiving MIDI device. When you want to try your drum pattern on another instrument, you simply switch to the corresponding drum map, and your snare drum sound remains a snare drum sound. If you want to have the same drum maps included in your projects, you can load these into the template. NOTE Drum maps are saved with the project files. If you have created or modified a drum map, use the Save function to save it as a separate XML file to make it available for loading into other projects. RELATED LINKS Saving a Project Template File on page 48 Drum Map Setup Dialog This dialog allows you to load, create, modify, and save drum maps. To open the Drum Map Setup dialog, select Drum Map Setup from the Map pop-up menu or the MIDI menu.
MIDI Editors Drum Editor Operations 496 The list on the left shows the currently loaded drum maps. The sounds and settings of the selected drum map are displayed on the right. NOTE The settings for the drum sounds are the same as in the Drum Editor. Output Allows you to select the output for the drum map sounds. Drum Sound List Lists all drum sounds and their settings. To audition a drum sound, click the leftmost column. NOTE If you audition a sound in the Drum Map Setup dialog and the sound is set to MIDI output Default, the output that is selected on the Output pop-up menu in the lower left corner is used. When auditioning a default output sound in the Drum Editor, the MIDI output selected for the track is used. The Functions pop-up menu contains the following options: New Map Adds a new drum map to the project. The drum sounds are named “Sound 1, Sound 2, etc.” and have all parameters set to default values. The map is named “Empty Map”. To rename the drum map, click the name in the list and type in a new name. New Copy Adds a copy of the currently selected drum map to create a new drum map. You can then change the drum sound settings of the copy and rename the drum map in the list. Remove Removes the selected drum map from the project.
MIDI Editors Drum Editor Operations 497 Load Allows you to load drum maps into your project. Save A l l o w s y o u t o s a v e t h e d r u m m a p t h a t i s s e l e c t e d i n t h e l i s t o n d i s k . D r u m m a p files have the extension .drm. Edit head pairs Allows you to customize the note pairs. Init Display Notes Allows you to reset the Display Notes entry to the original setting, that is the Pitch entry. RELATED LINKS Drum Map Settings on page 497 Channel and Output Settings on page 497 Drum Map Settings A drum map consists of settings for 128 drum sounds, one for each MIDI note number. • To get an overview of the drum map settings, open the Drum Editor and use the Map pop-up menu below the drum sound list to select the GM Map drum map. The GM map is set up according to the General MIDI standard. You can change all drum map settings except the pitch directly in the drum sound list or in the Drum Map Setup dialog. These changes affect all tracks that use the drum map. RELATED LINKS Drum Sound List on page 492 Drum Map Setup Dialog on page 495 Channel and Output Settings You can set separate MIDI channels and/or MIDI outputs for each sound in a drum map. When a drum map is selected for a track, the MIDI channel settings in the drum map override the MIDI channel setting for the track. You can select different channels and/or outputs for different sounds. This allows you to construct drum kits with sounds from several different MIDI devices, etc.
MIDI Editors Drum Editor Operations 498 • To make a drum sound use the channel of the track, set the channel in the drum map to Any. • To make the sound use the MIDI output that is selected for the track, set the MIDI output for a sound in a drum map to default. • To send the sound to a specific MIDI output, select any other option. • To select the same MIDI channel or MIDI device for all sounds in a drum map, click in the Channel column, press [Ctrl]/[Command], and select a channel or output. • If you make specific MIDI channel and output settings for all sounds in a drum map, you can switch between drum maps to send your drum tracks to another MIDI instrument. Selecting a Drum Map for a Track • To select a drum map for a MIDI track, open the Map pop-up menu in the Inspector or in the Drum Editor and select a drum map. • To deactivate the drum map functionality in the Drum Editor, open the Map pop-up menu in the Inspector or in the Drum Editor and select No Drum Map. Even if you do not use a drum map, you can still separate sounds by name using a name list. NOTE Initially, the Map pop-up menu only contains GM Map. About I-Notes, O-Notes and Pitches Going through the following theory helps you make the most out of the drum map concept – especially if you want to create your own drum maps. A drum map is a kind of filter that transforms notes according to the settings in the map. It does this transformation twice; once when it receives an incoming note that is when you play a note on your MIDI controller, and once when a note is sent from the program to the MIDI sound device. The following example shows a modified drum map with a bass drum sound that has different pitch, I-note, and O-note values.
MIDI Editors Drum Editor Operations 499 I-Notes (Input Notes) When you play a note on your MIDI instrument, the program looks for this note number among the I-notes in the drum map. If you play the note A1, the program finds that this is the I-note of the bass drum sound. This is where the first transformation happens: the note gets a new note number according to the pitch setting for the drum sound. In our case, the note is transformed to a C1 note, because that is the pitch of the bass drum sound. If you record the note, it is recorded as a C1 note. For example, you can place 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. If you never play your drum parts from a MIDI controller but draw them in the editor you do not need 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 using 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 can select another drum map when you want to use another MIDI instrument for drum sounds. Setting Pitches of Notes According to their O-Note Settings You can set the pitch of notes according to their O-note settings. 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. It’s a typical use case to export your MIDI recording as a standard MIDI file. If you first perform an O-note conversion, you make sure that your drum tracks play back as intended when they are exported. • To perform an O-note conversion, select MIDI > O-Note Conversion. RELATED LINKS Exporting and importing standard MIDI files on page 622
MIDI Editors SysEx Messages 500 Drum Name Lists Drum name lists allow you to use the Drum Editor even if no drum map is selected for the edited MIDI track. The drum sound list then consists of the columns Audition, Pitch, Instrument (drum sound name), and Quantize. This means that you can use the drum sound names in any loaded drum map without using I-notes and O-notes. In the drum name list mode, the names that are shown in the Instrument column depend on the selection on the Names pop-up menu at the bottom of the Drum Editor. The pop-up menu contains the currently loaded drum maps and GM Map. 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, for example, 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. RELATED LINKS Using MIDI devices on page 413 Bulk Dumps In any programmable device, the settings are saved as numbers in computer memory. If you change these numbers, you will change the settings. 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 restores 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.