Hello,
How am I able to harmonize or add notes above or below a given note in the midi editor? I am looking for something like in Finale where if I hit 3, it adds a note a third above, or if I hit shift-3, it adds a third below.
While this might not be the only, or best method, it came to mind and I tested it. It worked. The idea is to use the MIDI Logic Editor to build a preset, and then bind that preset to a key-combo.
If youâve not explored the power and flexibility of the Logical Editors, I highly encourage you read up on them in the manual and start practicing today. These editors will save you all kinds of time and effort in automating things or batch processing MIDI events. You get âlogic editorsâ at the MIDI event level, as well as on an application âproject levelâ.
Use the MIDI Logic Editor to insert your desired interval. Youâll repeat this for any intervals of which youâd like to create a Logic Editor preset.
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At the top of the Main Project window, choose select the Menu option âMIDI/Logic Editorâ.
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Build a simple script here to insert your desired interval.
Here you can see an example where Iâve made one that adds an interval of a major 3rd (4 half steps) above the âselectedâ note. Note that I did need to click on the function tab and change it from âTransformâ to âInsertâ.
Please note that you can get MUCH more involved with your Logic Editor presets. I.E. You could make the thing build entire chords, with any voicings you like. You could even make it do glissando style attacks to the chord and more. Practice with the logic editor is the secret spice of doing things MIDI in Cubase 
- Store this as a preset so you can use it again later.
If you like, test your new preset by clicking on a note in any of your MIDI editors and selecting the preset from the Main Project Window Menu âMIDI/Logical Editor Presetsâ.
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Continue building Logic Editor presets for any other intervals you wish to create and name them in your preferred way. I.E. Add Minor 2nd Above, Add Minor 2nd Below, Add Maj 2nd Above, Add Minor 3rd Above, and so on.
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Quit Cubase and restart it. This is necessary before we can start binding keys. Next time Cubase starts it will have a fresh list of presets in the âKey CommandsâŚâ dialog that we can bind to key combos/macros.
Next, you will bind key-combos to the Logic Editor presets that youâve just made.
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In the main project window choose the âFile/Key CommandsâŚâ.
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Under the âProcess Logical Presetâ tab, find your preset(s) and assign an unused key-combo of your choosing.
You can test different key combos until you find one that is not already in use by clicking the box under âtype in keyâ and trying various combos. Once youâve found one that is empty, you can click the âassignâ button.
- Once you are done binding keys to your Logic Editor Presets click âOKâ.
In my case below Iâve managed to bind my âAdd Maj 3rd Aboveâ preset to a previously unassigned key-combo of ctrl+shift+1.
At this point, you should find that if you click on a single note (or otherwise select it) in any of your MIDI editors, and then press the key-combo for your desired interval, it should insert the new note with duplicate timing/duration/velocity into the part.
Now that weâve looked at the âbasicsâ in creating a Logic Editor preset, and binding a key-combo to something, itâs a good time to read the manual for in-depth possibilities. I.E. You can have different key-combo sets and swap between them. You can create âmacrosâ that can run âmultiple commandsâ in a sequence, and so on. We might even learn that there is a way to update the presets in this thing without restarting Cubase (Maybe the reset button does it? Iâll need to look that up before pressing it as I donât want to risk lose all my bindings here).
It also might possible to bind these presets to MIDI events using a Generic Remote Map. I.E. You could reserve certain CC events, or reserve a channelâs note-on/off events to enter these sorts of things using your MIDI Keyboard, MPC Pads, etcâŚ
If youâre interested in learning how to bind Cubase commands to MIDI events via Remote Maps let me know and Iâll try to help you get started in that realm of Cubase. I personally use the MPC pads on my MPK261 to do all sorts of nifty tricks in the Cubase score editor (for quick and easy âstep inputâ directly from my MPK261).
Hopefully this has been helpful. Good luck, and happy sequencing
Thank you so much! I have been attempting to dive into regularly using the logical editor. I would definitely be interested in your offer! This has helped a ton.
Pete,
Here are a couple of threads that might get some gears grinding in your head on how to control Cubase âremotelyâ. In this case Iâm attempting to help Akai MPK2 users specifically; however, the concepts of building the map(s) in Cubase are fairly universal for most MIDI controllers out there. The main point isâŚyou can bind pretty much any command in Cubase to MIDI events
http://community.akaipro.com/akai_professional/topics/mpk49-mapping-to-cubase-elements-7
Here is a video on making remote maps. Itâs an older version Cubase in the vid, but current versions havenât changed much if any.
Here is another thread (in which I refer to the link above as well). It branches out into some other âremote control relatedâ topics as well.
Hereâs one that tosses up some examples on using the MIDI Logic EditorâŚ
Hi Brian,
You wrote:
" Use the MIDI Logic Editor to insert your desired interval. Youâll repeat this for any intervals of which youâd like to create a Logic Editor preset.
- At the top of the Main Project window, choose select the Menu option âMIDI/Logic Editorâ.
- Build a simple script here to insert your desired interval.
Here you can see an example where Iâve made one that adds an interval of a major 3rd (4 half steps) above the âselectedâ note. Note that I did need to click on the function tab and change it from âTransformâ to âInsertâ."
I donât see the example in the post. Can you post the example again? Iâd like to try this.
This is with Cubase 13âŚ
Insert a new note a major 3rd (4 half steps) above the selected note(s) (selected in an active MIDI editor). Since Iâm not doing anything to specifically alter itâŚthis logic will retain the same timeline position, and on/off velocity values as the selected note(s).
Older versions might name the various portions of an event differently. I stay confused since Cubase 12 and 13 started changing some things in this respect. With a few seconds of trial and error, and practice, itâs not hard to sort out the changes though.
Thanks!
PS, the way that one is setup, you can apply it to all selected notes.
I.E. Hold ctrl and click several notes (or lasso select, whatever). Run the logic, and itâll make parallel 3rds for you for all of the selected notes.
You could also bind it to a key-commandâŚ
Multiple logic editors can be bound in a sequence via âmacroâ.
Still, how awesome would it be if PLE targets could use the same âposition in chordâ tech to add an interval, instead of having only predefined options.
I think you can do this with the logic editorsâŚ
Youâd need a macro to run multiple passes.
First, to select all the notes by position.
Multiple passes might come in handy to sort out some situations. Use of a chord track might come in handy as well if thereâs too much activity going on in a part all by itself.
Again to add new notes at the desired interval.
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There are number of âcontext variablesâ availableâŚ
Iâd done that back in 12 with a set of presets. But it was really clunky. A simple âadd diatonic 3rd above selected noteâ would go a long way.
What I had built was a collection of presets that checked what degree of the chord is a selected note, and then added an appropriate +4 or +3 (or any desired interval, up or down) in two passes, but there were some pitfalls with event selection inbetween the two passes.
Sometimes it would select the freshly insert notes and then run the next preset on those instead of the original material, or other times it wouldnât successfully run both presets one after the other, this kind of thing.
I havenât found the patience to go throught these presets again for 13.
UnderstoodâŚ
Sometimes itâs just not worth the trouble unless itâs something youâll be using umpteen times a day, in nearly every session you touch.
Sometimes it helps to mute stuff or change the channels about temporarily for more isolation.
Some stuff requires project logical editors tooâŚand sometimes even keeping a spare track around with nothing more than an extraneous event to âstealâ (serve as an arbitrary value to âstart withâ). Itâs been a while, but I used to keep a track about 100 bars long with nothing but a middle C and a CC0 event on every beat to use as a kind of base for building PLE intense stuff.
Clone a track. Get rid of stuff thatâs in the way (or use a special reference track instead). Run several passes of logic. Smash the tracks back together. Blah blahâŚ
It can be a step by step PITA. For things you do âall the timeâ it can be worth it thoughâŚ