Using C14 for the new score editor, I find the Interpretation > Filter Pitches Above / Filter Pitches Below in a given instruments setting menu to more annoying than helpful. For clarity of what I’m referring to:
The problem is, some libraries map at a different octave (probably based on the differing C3/C4 standards), so therefore a lot of the times I will discover notes which exist in the key editor are totally hidden from the score editor.
This is further frustrating when working with synths and alternative instruments, where Cubase assumes by default a treble clef or bass clef. Fine – but give me a treble clef or bass clef without filtering notes above and below. I find that as a result pitches are hidden in the score editor all the time, and I invariably have to manually go uncheck these intrepretation boxes.
Would there also be a way to make an (unfiltered) grand staff the default for all instruments which are non-orchestral? I.e. synths, keyboards, etc. I would rather just see the full range of notes, rather than Cubase guess for me what the range should be (spoiler: it’s mostly wrong).
I’ve also had a few instances where it incorrectly guesses the instrument, such as adding a bass flute showed a bass guitar in the score editor. I’d rather just see a grand staff and decide for myself later if I wish to apply a bass flute instrument setting.
There are some improvements coming in the next update. This will now take the instrument range into account when setting the defaults, so for grand staff instruments, for example, it shouldn’t filter out any musical pitches.
I’m wondering, will we be able to default all instruments, or all “unknown” instruments to a grand staff? For example when I add a synth it often gives me either bass or treble staff only, and I always have to switch to grand staff to show me the full range.
Also I am not sure how it works with some instruments but Cubase appears to guess perhaps based on whatever I name the track, or maybe some other aspect about it – and thereby will at times randomly assign the wrong instrument type. Again in this case I would rather it just give me a grand staff. Perhaps there can be a menu preference that the default assignment for unknown instrument types is a full grand staff? Either way I’ll leave it to you guys to figure out the best way. Thanks again!
In most cases the inference of the instrument type is done based on the name, but if there is already note data on the track then that is also taken into account. We can consider other ways of overriding this in the future.
I suppose consider oddities I have encountered, such as adding VSL’s “Bass Waterphone” has shown me either a bass guitar or other type of bass staff! Same with other “bass” instruments such as bass flute. Not only is this confusing, but it also places the notes in an akward range, because although these are “bass” with respect to the smaller instruments in their family, they aren’t nearly as bassy as true bass instruments. They would probably do better on a treble staff for example.
With a synth, I may live record a something in a higher register – which is probably why it then assigns it a treble staff. However if later on I use the same synth an octave lower or in the bass register, opening it in the score editor still maintains the treble staff assignment – thus either the lower notes are either invisible (if filtered) or if not filtered they are on extremely low ledger lines.
I understand in this way Cubase is trying to be helpful, but because I use a lot of non-orchestral instruments such as various types of synths, hybrid textural libraries, extended unique percussion etc, I feel a grand staff is simply more useable without having to fight against its assumptions about the instrument type (and then manually changing it) on every track.
Hope that helps clarify where I’m coming from. Thank you!
