Key Editor Operations V2 in Cubase 12

today we cover

Key Editor Operations V2  in Cubase 12

• Matching Note Events to a Musical Scale

• Quantizing MIDI Note Pitches to Musical Scales

• Mapping Incoming MIDI Note Pitches to Musical Scales

• Inserting Note Events with the Object Selection Tool

• Deleting Note Events

• Drawing Note Events with the Draw Tool
• Modifying Note Values while Inserting Notes

• Drawing Note Events with the Line Tool

• Line Tool Modes

Matching Note Events to a Musical Scale

You can select a musical scale that is based on all or selected note events in the Key Editor and match note events to it.

Procedure

1. Open a MIDI part in the Key Editor.

2. Open the Scale Assistant section of the Inspector, and activate Use Editor Scale.

3. Do one of the following:
• Select some note events in the note display if you want to get suggestions of musical scales that match those notes.
• Deselect all note events in the note display if you want to get suggestions of musical scales that match all notes of the MIDI part.

4. 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.

5. 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.

6. Open the Scale Suggestions pop-up menu, and select one of the options.

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.

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 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_for_midi_notes_finding_t.html>

Quantizing MIDI Note Pitches to Musical Scales

You can quantize MIDI note pitches to the nearest pitch of the selected scale.

Prerequisite

In the Key Editor, you have selected a scale for your MIDI notes or you have selected a Chord Track Mode.

Procedure

1. Open the Scale Assistant section of the Inspector.
2. Optional: Activate Show Scale Note Guides.

3. Do one of the following:
• Select the notes in the note event display whose pitches you want to quantize.
• Deselect all notes in the note event display to quantize all note pitches of the MIDI part.

4. Click Quantize Pitches.

Result

All note pitches that do not match the selected scale are quantized to the nearest pitches in the scale.

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

Mapping Incoming MIDI Note Pitches to Musical Scales

When monitoring or recording in the Key Editor, you can map the note pitches of incoming MIDI to the nearest pitches of the selected scale.

Prerequisite

In the Key Editor, you have selected a scale for the MIDI notes or you have selected a Chord Track Mode.

Procedure

1. Open the Scale Assistant section of the Inspector.
2. Activate Show Scale Note Guides.

3. On the Key Editor toolbar, activate Record in Editor.

4. Click Start on the Transport panel or in the Transport Bar to start playback.

5. Activate Snap Live Input.

6. Play or record some notes on your MIDI keyboard.

Result

The pitches of the played or recorded notes are automatically mapped to the selected scale.

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

Snapping MIDI Note Pitches to Musical Scales While Editing

You can snap the note pitches of MIDI notes to the nearest pitches of the selected scale while editing in the Key Editor.

Prerequisite

In the Key Editor, you have selected a scale for your MIDI notes or you have selected a Chord Track Mode.

Procedure

1. Open the Scale Assistant section of the Inspector.
2. Activate Show Scale Note Guides.
3. Activate Snap Pitch Editing.

4. Do one of the following:
• Insert a note event with the Draw tool, the Object Selection tool, or with the Line tool.
• Drag a note event upwards or downwards with the mouse.
• Select a note event and use the Up Arrow/Down Arrow keys.

Result

The notes snap to pitches of the selected scale. You cannot place notes on pitches outside of the scale. If you select multiple notes and move them to different pitches, all selected notes snap to the pitches of the selected scale.

Note

Snap Pitch Editing does not apply when you change pitches using the Pitch value field on the info line or if you record notes via MIDI input.

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

Inserting Note Events with the Object Selection Tool

You can insert note events with the Object Selection tool.

Prerequisite

You have set up the length for the note events quantize value in the Length Quantize pop-up menu of the toolbar.

Procedure

• In the note display, double-click with the Object Selection tool at the position where you want to insert a note.

Result

A note is inserted at the position where you double-clicked with the length that you have set up in the Length Quantize pop-up menu.

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

Deleting Note Events

Procedure

• Perform one of the following actions:
• Select the Erase tool and click the event.
• Select the Object Selection tool and double-click the event.
  Note
  If Double-Click Opens Note Expression Editor is activated on the Key Editor toolbar, double-clicking a note event opens the note expression editor instead.

Result

The note event is deleted.

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

Drawing Note Events with the Draw Tool

The Draw tool allows you to insert single note events in the note display.

When you move the cursor inside the note display, its position is indicated on the status line. Its pitch is indicated both on the status line and on the piano keyboard to the left.

• To draw a note, click in the note display.
  The note event has the length that is set on the Length Quantize pop-up menu.

• To draw longer note events, click and drag in the note display.
  The length of the note event is a multiple of the Length Quantize value. If Length Quantize is set to Quantize Link, the note value is determined by the quantize grid. The Snap function is taken into account.

Note

To temporarily switch from the Object Selection tool to the Draw tool, hold down Alt/Opt.

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

Modifying Note Values while Inserting Notes

When inserting note events, you can modify specific note values on the fly.

• To edit the note velocity, drag upwards or downwards.
• To edit the note pitch, hold down Alt/Opt and drag upwards or downwards.
• To edit the note length, drag to the left or to the right.
• To edit the time position, hold down Shift and drag to the left or to the right.

Note

You can activate/deactivate Snap temporarily by holding down Ctrl/Cmd.

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

Drawing Note Events with the Line Tool

In the note display, the Line tool allows you to draw a series of contiguous note events along different line shapes.

• To create contiguous note events, click and drag in the note display.
• To restrict movement to horizontal, press Ctrl/Cmd and drag.
  The notes have the same pitch.

If Snap is activated, the note events and controller events are positioned and sized according to the Quantize and Length Quantize values.

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

Line Tool Modes

The Line tool allows you to create a series of contiguous note events along different line shapes. You can also edit multiple controller events simultaneously.

• To open the Line tool modes, click Line.

The following line modes are available:

Line

If this option is activated, you can click and drag to insert note events in the note display along a straight line in any angle. Use this option to edit controller data along a straight line in the controller display.

Parabola, Sine, Triangle, Square

These modes insert note events along different curve shapes.

Paint

This mode allows you to insert note events by painting in the note display.

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