Hi I’m currently using Cubase 13 Pro and I’m trying to find out how functional the new score editor is for notating guitar tablature.
From what I can find in the manual it seems that there is Palm Mute notation (P.M.), as well as additional strings and tunings which is great, but what I can’t find is if I would be able to notate bends, slides, or how many strings I can add (I need up to 8).
Currently my workflow involves exporting xml’s of drum, bass & guitar to two other softwares; first one is able to decipher what cubase 13 spits out and the second one is just easier to use and allows me to make it legible more quickly than the first while still being a huge time-sink. As far as I can tell C14 will give a perfectly legible drum score, but if I can do everything in cubase that’s an instant buy for me.
The release notes for Cubase 14 contains a paragraph about the new score editor, and there is background information on the developer’s blog. Note that this new editor is still missing MusicXML import within Cubase, but the release notes say it “will be implemented in the future”.
In addition, there is a completely free version of Dorico SE that you could also check out.
According to the blog, I can export from the Cubase score editor as a Dorico session. From what I can tell this means I can do most of the editing in cubase and if I can’t notate a bend or slide then I can send it there to put finishing touches in Dorico where all the notation data should be exactly the same when I open it there.
This seems like a very workable solution and much quicker than my current workflow until Steinberg adds any required functionality to the Cubase editor as it seems they are investing a lot in.
New softwares are always a pain to learn so the more I can do in Cubase the better. If anybody else goes with this solution, heres a video that shows how to notate guitar tech in from the Dorico YT channel:
He mentions at the beginning that most of the video applies to the free version and at 43:20, if I understand correctly, that everything until then is default functionality.
100%, and I would also add to that: Custom tunings and the option to have keys on my Expression maps trigger palm mutes, dead notes and slide mappings to the score would be neat.
The optimal solution is to do everything from Cubase. This is just potentially the best solution available (for me) until that is implemented. I did download the free trial of 14 and there is a section for “strings & tunings” just without any options to change it.
I would encourage you to try Dorico as all of those things are possible (most of them should also be possible in the free Dorico SE). We do hope to add more guitar tab functionality in Cubase in the future, but for the moment it is a lot more limited than the advanced features in Dorico.
