Does the score editor have the same capabilities in all tiers of Cubase 15?
If there are differences, what are they please?
Many thanks.
Yes, itās the same in all versions
Many thanks. Do you know how it compares to Dorico itself?
It uses the same underlying scoring engine as Dorico, but it is more limited. If you need advanced features such as part preparation (supported in Cubase, but not as flexible as Dorico), cues and detailed controls over engraving and layout then Dorico is the tool to use.
This article describes our approach to the Cubase score editor: Introducing the new Dorico-powered Score Editor in Cubase 14 ā Dorico
In short, the old Cubase score editor was developed by a single person over many years, who was wanting to retire, and it wasnāt easily maintainable for the future. It had been the plan for many years that ultimately the Dorico engine would be used in Cubase. We are bringing Dorico and Cubase closer together in each version.
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Thatās very helpful indeed, thanks. It means I can get one of the lower tiers of Cubase to try out. I have the full version of Dorico to compare.
I think you are part of the development team (?) in which case a further explanation of my use case might help. A use case which isnāt that unusual.
At the moment Logic is my DAW of choice, and Sibelius my music DTP. I use Rewire to sync them together. Most of the time Logic contains only audio, though at some point I will establish MIDI tempo (which might vary) so that Logic can ādriveā Sibelius. But Rewire is deprecated, and only runs using Rosetta on a Mac, and Rosetta is coming to the end of its life. And Sibelius is messy.
It appears that the intention is to make the score editor in Cubase more capable, over time, yes? Maybe eventually the score editor in Cubase will become almost a full āDorico within Cubaseā, if thatās possible.
One thing that my current setup accommodates very well is repeats. So a Logic file will be one continuous timeline, with no repeats, but the Sibelius file will have repeats, but including things like Verse 1 and Verse 2 for vocals within the repeat brackets. Iām guessing that that isnāt possible with Score Editor?
Dorico has very good support for the layout and playback of repeats. Cubase has limited features for the notation of repeats but doesnāt support playback of repeats in notation. Itās possible to get Cubase to play back ranges in a custom order, but this isnāt currently reflected in the notation.
I think in general, if you want to work in a DAW rather than notation app then itās easier to work without repeats. If you want to work in the DAW but then need repeats for the printed score then it may be easier to export the full āunwoundā project into a notation app and then add the repeats there.
Another option is to work in Dorico/Sibelius with repeats and then export the MIDI file which will have all the repeats expanded.
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so now we are forced to use two programs, a DAW and a notation app. Every change has to be executed in two different programs, which is extremely time consuming. And mistakes will happen easily.
We could do this all in Cubase before this new score editor arrivedā¦.
Consider bringing back a way to adjust the number of bars per staff and a function to hide staffs, and repeats will make sense again. Right now they are senseless.
Thanks. I imagined that would be the way. I canāt imagine how non-repeating audio and repeating notation could be made to work together, to be honest.
Iāve not tried the score editor in Cubase yet, but hopefully if there is some sort of non-printing comments feature (?) it wouldnāt be too much work to put a āthese bars, 9-16, are a repeat of bars 1-8ā, and when the project is exported to Dorico, make the repeats there.
Though still a pain not to be able to have two things, audio/midi and notation, both live and editable, and in perfect sync. Iām still hoping for somebody to come up with a cross application replacement for Rewire. Though that is more in hope than expectation. Ableton Link might be it, but hasnāt got a notation application yet. ARA looks like it might have possibilities, but I donāt really understand it.
Interesting. Do repeats work in the way I described in old Cubase?
yes, you could hide the repeated staffs
this was possible, with a little workaround.
When the repeated section was followed by bars in the same staff, I split the staff, so that the first two bars appeared in one staff above. Then I hid this line and set the repeats between bars 3 and 4. Not perfect, but close 
Personally I made the decision never to use repeats so I can work in Cubase for everything and not have to think about it. If I have a repeat section I sometimes use shared midi objects which means I only have to enter the notes and lyrics once.
I also find these days with electronic distribution of scores and using an iPad, saving a page or something by using repeats has very limited benefit.
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That may be your way of working. There are many areas of professional music making where repeats marks, whether on paper or iPad, are standard, very useful and expected.
Thanks. To be clear Iāve never used Cubase (or at least so long ago Iāve forgotten!) either old version or the 14+ version with Score Editor.
I think I understand what you are saying, but only just. Sounds a little creaky, but then every other option Iāve explored is either a little, or very, messy, compared to Logic-Sibelius rewired together.
At this point Iām looking at āfreezingā a computer to keep Rosetta, and therefore Rewire, working. Which gives me probably 3 years, maybe more.
But I will continue to monitor/research the other options, including a Cubase+Dorico pair.
I donāt know what the scripting/automation is like in Cubase score editor, or Dorico. But if it were possible to place markers of some sort - āstart repeat mark hereā, then āend repeat mark hereā, ā1st time bar starts hereā, ā2nd time bar starts hereā to either fold or unfold repeats that could very well make moving between Cubase and Dorico fairly painless.
Iāll investigate, when time allows.
Just as an fyi:
Of course, there is no necessity to dispense with repeats. While the Score Editor no longer has repeats playback or the ability to hide bars built in, (and one hopes strongly that this will be implemented) the Arranger Track can be used for this purpose. Itās more steps, but can be done.
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Thatās really useful info, thanks. And it looks workable.
I need to be careful about the number of software packages I buy ājust to try it outā. Is that the full version of Cubase, or would the lowest tier be enough for me to experiment with that specific feature?
Yes, I know thereās a 60 (?)day trial, but my experience of trial versions is I never get to know it well enough in the free period.
Hereās a handy dandy comparison chart between Cubase editions.
https://www.steinberg.net/cubase/compare-editions/
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