Simple remedy: don’t send out double notes. I’ve used Cubase since Atari days and never had this problem.
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Doctor, doctor. It hurts when I do this.
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Good for you.
Still a bug.
I recognise it’s harder to be empathetic unless it’s happening to -you-. Not trying to be argumentative, but there’s a difference between reporting/campaigning for fixes to long-standing issues (as I try to do) and ‘toxic bashing’, which I definitely try not to do. All software companies would rather forget about little nigglies. The more time goes by? The less they wanna revisit. But functions like this matter (to me anyways.) The occasional reminder is not a bad thing… even if the chances of getting it looked at get smaller with each passing year.
—JC
Would be great when double notes appear the same way as the visualisation of overlapping parts in the arrange window 
If it’s a bug, why does it happen to you and not me? 
Specific setting that causes it. 
Yes. If there was some colour variation if two notes were on top of one another that -would- help. But since both notes have the same velocity and pitch there’s no way to discriminate.
Here’s a typical case that can easily occur even if you don’t have a problem with yer keyboard:
You create several drum parts on different lanes. You decide to combine them together onto a single track. It might -easily- happen that there are overlapping kick drum or hat notes in random spots. Very hard to spot while a full drum set is playing. All you can tell is that there are -some- spots that just don’t sound right.
Same thing with string or brass… you start out writing several monophonic lines and then combine them onto a single ‘trumpets’ track. Certain notes sound ‘wrong’, so you keep fiddling with velocity or =whatever=, not realising that there’s -another- note behind the one you’re editing.
—JC
It’s been this way since I can remember, and I’ve been on Cubase since '97. The only reason (after my initial complaints) that I haven’t kept at it is that it smelled like one of those those things that would never get fixed, like the crashing on exit, which has happened to me on high CPU use projects forever. So- I gave up. It has cost me countless hrs at times-a button gets pressed by accident when I’m working quickly and my controller is sending out two notes at once. There’s phasing but I can’t tell why-and then I do. Grrr.
I love the accusations of “user error”. IT HAS NEVER WORKED on my system, from 1997, and I have changed computers, systems and Cubase versions a whole bunch of times. Highlight a region. Bring up “delete doubles”. Playback. Doubles are still there. Voila-bug.
Right there with ya, Suntower.
Thanks for the support. Sadly, I think the other poster’s objection stems from some personal animus.
It’s tough enough to get S/B to pay attention to these sorts of things without all the infighting.
What always kills me is how S/B decides which bugs to really target. I’m sure that issues like ‘Delete Doubles’ seem small beer to some, but if you check the list of fixes in any release, there will be fixes for some of the most arcane and exotic issues imaginable. It would be interesting to me to be in on the triage. I can only assume that ‘Hans’ or some other one-name guy’s assistant has a bit more pull at stone mountain.
I’m done for another year.
—JC
Mmmm smells like mashedmitten (again)
Doubles don’t just occur when recording - for me it is mostly when glueing together midi parts. If there are notes that are outside the event boundaries, then they become part of the “new” event that is created from the gluing.
Just because it is not possible to provide a repro, does not mean it is not a bug
Intermittent bugs and bugs that happen randomly are still bugs! They are just harder to find.
But ultimately, all bugs are findable, even intermittent ones. Every last single one of them!
I know this because I was a systems developer for almost 30 years.
The following has happened several times when trying to make a repro for this:
- draw some intentional double notes for the purposes of the repro
- lasso the notes, do “delete doubles”
- observe that the doubles are correctly deleted.
- CTRL+Z (undo)
- lasso the notes again, do “delete doubles” again
- the command fails this time
- repeat above
- “delete doubles” still fails
Not much of a repro is it? This in no way means it is not a bug in cubase (maybe its a faulty memory stick, mashed? 
)
Secondly, all this guff from the “it doesn’t happen to me so it doesn’t exist” crowd serves only to dilute and distract attention away from the core issues. To all you black-and-white thinkers, I say this: Absence of proof is not proof of absence. So butt out, and trust that some of us actually know what we’re talking about.
I’ll gladly butt out of this one indeed, and hope you enjoy the fact you know what you’re talking about. So glad I don’t… 
I think I made a breakthrough - it may have something to do with using iterative quantize to move notes!
Given two identical notes that occupy the same positions, where one was already “in position” (eg drawn to grid ) and the other was moved to that same start position using repeated iterative quantize (I tested using 50% strength) , then the delete doubles appears to fail, even though the info line says the MIDI notes have the exact same start position.
But if you then enable snap, then move the note away then move it back again, the delete doubles will work!
Can anyone verify?
- set quantize to 1/4 note, enable iterative quantize, strength = 50%
- set snap to on
- in a MIDI event, draw a note at a 1/4 note position
- set snap off
- make a copy of the note and position it a litle to the right of the first note (at the same pitch)
- with the second note selected, hit the quantize key (“Q” on my box) many times until the note is pulled back to the 1/4 note grid
- select both notes (which are now on top of each other)
- do “delete doubles”
- the command fails (ie the duplicate note was not deleted)
But then:
- set snap on
- move the second note to another pitch
- move it back again
- do “delete doubles”
- the command works! The duplicate was deleted.
An absolute quantize (ie not iterative) or explicit note movement (with the arrow tool) does not show the same behaviour.
Don’t know if you’re still having a problem with double notes, but this is what help me…
Obviously, preventing doubles in the first place is the ideal scenario. But we live in a less than ideal world, which is presumably why Steiny provided us with a “delete doubles” function in the first place.
It is operation of this command that we would like them to fix. So if some kind soul would please verify the repro I posted earlier, we could finally get this logged as an “issue” and get the ball rolling…
Confirmed. 100% repeatable. Win7/64.
Frankly, in addition to being super-busy, I didn’t bother with this until now because… I don’t give a TOSS -how- the dupes get there. To -me- whether they get there from a MIDI controller or by hand editing, or even space aliens from planet Zatox, I think the -algorithm- should be able to ‘see’ the dupes and destroy them. Plus, I almost NEVER hand enter notes like this.
I’m somewhat puzzled as to why your example fails. It means their algo doesn’t work at all as I’d expect.
In any case, hopefully having a repro will encourage Steinberg to provide a fix to the -overall- problem.
Go get 'em!
—JC
Reported in “issue reports” subforum and also direct to tech support.
One easy fix for Steinberg would be to remove the “function” entirely.
I mean- if it doesn’t work, a function is, well- dysfunctional.
Not that it’s a fix or anything, but would it be easier to run down the list editor to check for doubles?
Yes it would! I only became familiar with the list editor very recently, and it seems it would be a better option than peeking behind each note in turn.
As for the folk suggesting the advice “it is user error - simply do not create doubles in the first place” I have the following proposal: Simply record all your MIDI perfectly correctly the first time, then there is no need for editing and correction at all. You folk are hereby forbidden from using the “undo” command, the “eraser tool”, “copy and paste” or any other correctional tools of the sequencer. Why should the software correct YOUR mistakes that YOU make? It is user error. Just do it right yourself, then you won’t need any correctional tools at all. OK? 
Ah yes… the ‘Modern Marriage Counseling’ approach to software design.
@Alexis. Yeah, the LE is fine for 4-5 notes. Not a 1,800 note drum part.
—JC
To those who said there was/is no problem with this (especially N8 and Arjan P) I must now resist the temptation to say “I told you so”. Whoops, I did it anyway.
See this post from SB support. There is a fundamental flaw in the way MIDI note positions are translated from their “internal” hi-res values to MIDI PPQ positions for the purposes of position comparison…