Importing a MIDI File (from Sibelius) and Converting them to Expression Maps for Articulations

Hello,

I hope you are all healthy and safe.

I’ve written a score in Sibelius and have imported the MIDI file into Cubase. I am using East West Orchestra for the instruments. I have also set up Expression Maps to use those sounds. The goal is to use Cubase’s more advanced settings to get a more realistic orchestra sound.

In order to get a more realistic sound, in many spots I need to “fix” what Sibelius did. For example, for a timpani roll, the imported MIDI file plays 64th notes for the 2-beat roll. It sounds much better (obviously) when using the expression map to switch to the timpani roll. Erasing those notes and replacing with a single 2-beat note and an Expression map is not terrible, but doing it multiple times gets tiresome and it seems to me I might be wasting my time.

What is the best way to fix something like this? Would the Logical Editor make sense? Is there anything in the MIDI file that can be used? Would importing a Music XML file make more sense? I am still inexperienced with Cubase so I don’t know how to fully use its power.

My limited understanding at this point is that it seems to me that for each track, I will need to draw in each of the Expressions under almost all the notes. I’ll do it, but I didn’t know if there was a better,faster approach.

Thank you for the help!