In past versions of Cubase within the score editor I have been able to adjust the size of chord symbols on lead sheets, something has changed and I am unable to this anymore. I’m running 14.0.032 . I just need the chords to be larger.
With Cubase version 14, it’s currently not (yet) possible to manually change the size of the chord symbols; the size is set automatically and depends on the Space Size (Layout Settings).
What you can do is change the Default Text Font (Score Settings). Choosing a suitable font might make the chords easier to recognize.
Thank you for your help. Some of the lead sheet functions were much better before they “improved” the score editor.
2 Likes
I have not tried it yet, but I believe this ability is now probably there in Cubase 15, with the new font size dialogs.
Thank you, I am planning on upgrading next week and I will let you know if it has changed.
1 Like
C15 —- I can change the Chord fonts to Jazz Text. but I can’t seem to find how to make the chord root larger, independent of the chord modifiers. That was possible in C11 —-
Dorico has a huge number of settings for the display of chord symbols that haven’t made their way yet into Cubase. If these settings were added into Cubase in a future version, it would allow making the chord root larger, as you can make any modifiers superscript or subscript by default in Dorico and also set the percentage size of superscript or subscript vs full height.
These settings in Dorico are in the same section of the program where the display conventions are decided upon like dim vs the little circle, or maj7 vs a triangle. So this post/thread might be applicable:
This makes it harder to read for Lead sheet / Real Book charts. What is preferred is the iReal Pro chord display where the Chord root is about twice the size as the modifiers. And that kind of font, too. Since this is more or less the standard, then perhaps make a “Jazz” option?
iRP Chord example.pdf (11.2 KB)
that defaults to this?
Dorico already has the following presets in the chord symbols settings:
Boston
Brandt-Roemer
Indiana
New York
Nashville
Jazz Standards
Ross
Japanese
Menu>Score>Font Styles>Chord Symbols Fonts, gives ,e a list of all the fonts on my Mac.. There are no Jazz Standards, Boston, Nashville, Brant - Roemer, etc. There. I do have Steinberg Jazz Chord Symbols Regular. However, Changing the font style and size here, is not reflected on the chart.
When I go to Menu>File>Settings>Event Display>Chords and Pitches, I see Steinberg Chords Jazz under Chord Fonts. Closing the window does not change the chart’s Chord Font.
Changing Parent from default to Chord Symbols font, doesn’t change anything, either.
So right now, I am at Steinberg Chord Symbols Jazz 20 point (!) and the chord symbols should be huge, but they are still on JazzText about 14 point….
And – I wish the windows would stay open when making changes - it’s annoying to try out a font, click OK the window closes, and I decide a try another font…
Closing the score window and re- opening doesn’t do anything, either
Those things I listed are not Chord Symbols Fonts. They are chord symbols engraving presets in Dorico, in the Chord Symbols Engraving settings section not currently available in Cubase. You had asked for an engraving preset to be added called Jazz when none of the presets in Dorico have been added yet to Cubase, so I just wanted to let you know what was already there in the Dorico engine (and what hopefully we will eventually see in Cubase).
Much Thanks. Personally, at least from the viewpoint of someone who mostly lead sheets, I think if Steinberg could come up with something resembling iReal Pro’s Chord symbols, again, mainly the difference is size between the root and modifiers, that would be enough. And scalable - My tenor guy doesn’t want to wear his glasses on stage so I have to make oversize charts for him… 
BTW, did I miss something when I could not get the chart to change to the new font / font size?
Again I think you’re asking Steinberg to create a duplicate preset for a preset that is really already there, but it is a preset that you just can’t see and use because there’s no GUI created for that part of the program yet. Professional jazz musicians and arrangers have been using Dorico for years now and if it didn’t support common standards there would be big complaints. Most of Dorico’s code is there underneath, but most of the GUI is missing since Cubase is built on a different framework and pretty much everything in terms of GUI from Dorico has had to be rebuilt in Cubase to expose the features.
You should be able to change the size of the entire symbol at the moment with the paragraph style, just not the root separately. The scaling difference between the root and things like maj7 etc are handled through the engraving options and those are currently not exposed in Cubase’s GUI.
Paging @FredGUnn who can maybe comment more specifically about the options in Dorico that hopefully we will see made available in the Cubase GUI.
I haven’t messed with chord symbols in Cubase at all, but it took me just a couple of minutes in Dorico to go from my standard chord symbols to an iReal sort of look like this:
@mducharme would you consider the fact that Cubase will not receive all the functions that are in Dorico?
I see you speak conditionally, but as a multi-decade user and ‘discusser’ of the Cubase Score Editor, I feel it’s not helpful to Cubase users who intend to stay with Cubase and not purchase Dorico, weather the reason be economics or other preference, to point out advanced functionality Dorico has in answer to questions about the Cubase Score Editor.
@FredGUnn This topic is about Cubase please. The OP is not asking about what is available in Dorico. I say this with respect to your voluminous contributions in the Dorico category.
Yes, I understand. However, he is requesting a new chord symbols preset would practically need to get added into the Dorico side of the code (since it affects chord symbol display), so it would appear in the main Dorico program as well, and it would probably be the Dorico team adding it. I’m just pointing out that there are already a bunch of presets already there on the Dorico side that he can’t see right now, so he’s probably effectively asking for a preset to be added to Dorico that is already there, or is at least probably almost identical to a preset that is already there.
And certainly yes there is no guarantee this will be added. However, I would also point out that on the Dorico side, the settings he is asking for are within the same chord settings section as the option of whether to display a chord as minor flat 5 or diminished. That’s why I linked to the other thread about that, since Stephan did say that they were “actively working on improving that aspect” regarding the minor flat 5 vs diminished display, and so that at least opens up the possibility that they might expose more settings from that same dialog like the one he is asking for.
And, @FredGUnn only responded because I asked (at the end of my last post), so it is not his fault.
That said, Michael, I will point out to users here that the correction of a minor (pun intended) deficiency in chord spellings does not imply a broad scope that might include Dorico Pro features. Users are sensitive about the functions and features of their daily driver software, and I wouldn’t want to create an expectation outside the scope of what’s been stated:
https://blog.dorico.com/2024/11/cubase-14-score-editor
The functional scope of the new Score Editor is also much more focused than the existing Score Editor: instead of attempting to provide all the capabilities of dedicated music notation software within Cubase, the new Score Editor provides fewer tools for working with the minutiae of notation and engraving.
1 Like
Duh for me - I can always open the finished chart in C13 and edit the Chord Fonts :-).
Have you done that yet? Did you lose the formatting previously done in the newer Score Editor?