Logic has this GREAT feature I use all the time for midi orchestration - Select top / bottom notes of a chord.
When I record I often sketch with a piano, right hand melody, left hand chords. Thus the feature in Logic where it will select all top notes (melody) is a real time saver, as I can have all the notes in a lengthy melody in one key command, rather then trying to lasso them all. This is also a nice way to export chord progressions into different parts as well (i.e. copy the 3 note chords part to 3 different strings, like viola, cello, bass; select the bottom notes, delete, repeat = viola part, select top and bottom, leaving the middle = cello, select bottom, invert selection delete = bass.) Very fast, especially when dealing with long sections.
The reason why this works is because you’re not “selecting all notes above C4 for example,” as this form of selection has NOTHING to do with music but is completely arbitrary. (i.e. your melody may contain notes that go below C4, or supporting chords go above C4.) but instead its making the selection based on what was actually recorded, and able to select the top or bottom voices.
Can this be done in Cubase? I have hopes that it can given how powerful it seems to be, but being new I cannot seem to figure it out. Any help in this direction would be appreciated.
Open Score editor for the part, select all notes and choose “Explode” command from the score menu.
Untick the splitpoint selector, and tick lines to parts and bass to lowest voice and select how many new parts you want.
If you select only 2 parts, the topline is in it’s own apart.
I use this all the time for making chords into contrapunctal lines and string quartet eg.
The new midi parts appear at the bottom of the arrange window.
I tried the “select highest pitch” preset from the logic editor and it failed horribly!! It selected less than 15% off the right hand melody when playing a particular left hand arp right hand melody piece, while logic was able to select close to 90%!
Arvfur - I tried your method and in general it worked well!! It did the melody no problem, but some of the inner voices it did not do so well, but I’m sure I can figure out its quirks and work around it. Thanks again, as so far this is the only solution suggested that I’ve gotten to work - cant seem to get the logical editor to come close!
Thanks Steve You are the only one I have come across that understands how to use Cubase the way musicians need to use it. I couldn’t find a straight answer any where on Steinberg on line manuals or even “YouTube” tutorials that understands what exploding parts means. My biggest wish is that a light will come on in theses software developers heads that they may one day higher procedure writers that are expert in the fields that the software was intended for and not just send them away after they consult for the developers. Best way to keep end users from searching elsewhere for better M.D.M. programs. Just making good common sense marketing!
