Key Editor Operations V1 in Cubase 12

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Key Editor Operations V1  in Cubase 12

Key Editor Operations

Showing/Hiding Global Tracks in the Key Editor

Editing Events on Global Tracks

Keyboard Focus in the Key Editor

Using the Chord Track to Match Note Events to a Musical Scale

Key Editor Operations

This section describes the principal editing operations within the Key Editor.

Pasted from <https://steinberg.help/cubase_pro/v12/en/cubase_nuendo/topics/midi_editors/midi_editors_key_editor_operations_c.html>

Showing/Hiding Global Tracks in the Key Editor

You can show global tracks and their events in the Key Editor.

Prerequisite

• In the Project window, you have added at least one global track, such as the tempo, signature, chord, ruler, arranger, video, marker, or the transpose track.

• In the track list, you have set up the order of the tracks as you want them to be shown in the Key Editor.
• Optional: In the Project window, you have activated Show Scales for the chord track.

• Optional: In the Project window, you have defined a Visible Tempo Upper Limit and a Visible Tempo Lower Limit for the tempo track.

Procedure

1. Select a MIDI part in the Project window.
2. Select MIDI > Open Key Editor to open the Key Editor in a separate window.
   The Global Tracks section is shown in the Inspector. Its track list shows a list of the available global tracks of your project.
   Note
   The Global Tracks section of the Inspector is not available in the lower zone editor.

3. In the track list of the Global Tracks section, activate the tracks that you want to show in the Key Editor.

Result

The global tracks that you activated are shown above the note display.

The global track setup in the Key Editor is saved with the project.

Note

If your project contains global tracks, you can also activate and show them and their events in the Key Editor by clicking Set up Window Layout on the toolbar and activating Global Tracks.

Pasted from <https://steinberg.help/cubase_pro/v12/en/cubase_nuendo/topics/midi_editors/midi_editors_global_tracks_in_key_editor_showing_t.html>

Editing Events on Global Tracks

You can select, add, and edit events in the global tracks event display of the Key Editor. All changes that you perform are synchronized with the Project window event display.

Procedure

1. Optional: Make sure that the global tracks event display has the keyboard focus and zoom in on/out of the global tracks using Shift-H or Shift-G.
2. Optional: Change the height of a global track by clicking its lower border in the track list and dragging up or down.
   Note
   The tracks that are shown in the global tracks event display have a default track height of 1 row, except for the tempo track and the chord track that have a height of 2 rows, and the video track that has a height of 3 rows. You can adapt these heights according to your needs. The height of the ruler track cannot be changed.

3. Do one of the following:
• Apply the usual editing methods on one or several events in the global tracks event display.
• Use the tool buttons in the Key Editor toolbar.
• Select an event in the global tracks event display and use the info line to edit specific event parameters.

Result

All changes that you perform including the track selection are synchronized with the Project window event display.

Pasted from <https://steinberg.help/cubase_pro/v12/en/cubase_nuendo/topics/midi_editors/midi_editors_global_tracks_events_editing_t.html>

Keyboard Focus in the Key Editor

The different zones in the Key Editor window can be controlled by using key commands. To make sure that a key command has effect on a specific zone, you must make sure that this zone has the keyboard focus.

The following Key Editor zones can have the keyboard focus:

• Global tracks event display

• Key Editor note display

The global tracks event display has the keyboard focus.

If a zone has the keyboard focus, it is indicated by a highlighted and solid focus frame. The non-active zone is shown with a dashed frame.

Note

You can change the focus color in the Preferences dialog (User Interface—Color Schemes page).

Pasted from <https://steinberg.help/cubase_pro/v12/en/cubase_nuendo/topics/midi_editors/midi_editors_keyboard_focus_key_editor_c.html>

Using the Chord Track to Match Note Events to a Musical Scale

You can select a musical scale that is defined by chords or scales on the chord track and match note events to it.

Prerequisite

You have added a chord track with chord events to your project.

Procedure

1. Open a MIDI part in the Key Editor.

2. Optional: Open the Global Tracks section and activate the chord track as a global track.
   This allows you to see chord and scale events in the Key Editor.

3. Open the Scale Assistant section of the Inspector, and activate Use Chord Track.

4. Open the Chord Track Mode pop-up menu and do one of the following:
• Select Scales if you want to match note events to the scale events on the chord track.
• Select Chords if you want to match note events to the chord events on the chord track.
• Select Chords & Scales if you want to match note events to both scale and chord events on the chord track.

5. Activate Show Scale Note Guides.
   This changes the background of the event display according to the selected scale so that pitches that do not belong to the scale are shown with a darker background.

6. On the Key Editor toolbar, set Event Colors to Scale/Chords.
   This changes the colors of the note events in the event display according to whether or not the pitches match the selected musical scale.
   Note
   To view the color scheme of the selected color mode, open the Event Colors pop-up menu and select Setup.

7. Optional: On the Key Editor toolbar, open the Select Pitch Visibility Options pop-up menu, and select Show Pitches from Scale Assistant.
   This filters the note display and the piano keyboard display so that they show only the pitches that match the selected musical scale.

Result

The coloring of the event display background and the note events gives you a visual guide for editing note pitches.

Note

As you might have added different scale/chord events at specific time positions, the scale indications in the event display background and on the note events change along the timeline.

After Completing This Task

If you need more assistance to match note events to the nearest pitches of the selected musical scale, you can click Quantize Pitches to quantize pitches of already existing MIDI notes, activate Snap Pitch Editing to snap the note pitches of MIDI notes while editing, or activate Snap Live Input to map the note pitches of incoming MIDI.

Pasted from <https://steinberg.help/cubase_pro/v12/en/cubase_nuendo/topics/midi_editors/midi_editors_musical_scales_chord_track_finding_t.html>