MIDI Step Entry

Has the ability to hold notes during step record to lengthen the note by the quantize value been removed?

I haven’t used Cubase since C4 first release. So, maybe it’s been gone awhile.

bump for luck! No one uses step entry? :stuck_out_tongue:

I never heard of such behavior?

Well, it’s not present in C5, sounds like a handy feature though.

I was going to say that :wink:

damn, must have been pulled in C4. It rocked. You just hold down the keys and the note would grow and move the insert cursor. Guess I should pop it back as an FR. It was one of those things I missed when I switched to Samp. LOL.

I posted some suggestions in the old forum for the Step input feature. As it is now I have not much use for it…

Please let me repost them, since it is related:

Since I’m not a good keyboard player, I need to make use of the step input feature very often. However I think it can be much improved with some small changes or additions.

  1. Currently there is no BACK button, in the sense of undoing the last input and placing the cursor one step back. You can’t make a macro with those two commands together, because the undo function can’t be part of a macro. So, it would be nice to have a BACK function, which would be the same than pressing the UNDO key and the LEFT cursor. Allowing the UNDO function to be part of a macro would be nice too.

  2. Both the STEP input cursor and the PLAY cursor have different positions, and there is no way to synchronize them (as far as I know). It would be nice to have a function to synchronize the STEP input cursor with the PLAY cursor.

  3. Currently you can’t change the length of the note you place in with the STEP input in real time. My suggestion is that, as long as you hold the key (or keys, for a chord) for that note, if you press the RIGHT cursor you will increase its size one step more, and decrease it with the LEFT cursor.

Shift-Alt-Right Nav Arrow on PC.

This doesn’t work in step input mode.

Actually, I think you can use the arrow keys and key mods to undo and move the input cursor back. Will be late before I get a chance to get back to my DAW to make sure I’m not smoking crack

  1. Both the STEP input cursor and the PLAY cursor have different positions, and there is no way to synchronize them (as far as I know). It would be nice to have a function to synchronize the STEP input cursor with the PLAY cursor.

Just my Opinion… they should be separate. Not sure why they need to be in synch? Again, not saying it wouldn’t be nice for you, I just don’t see a workflow issue where that would provide any value.

  1. Currently you can’t change the length of the note you place in with the STEP input in real time. My suggestion is that, as long as you hold the key (or keys, for a chord) for that note, if you press the RIGHT cursor you will increase its size one step more, and decrease it with the LEFT cursor.

You used to be able to do this. But no touching computer keyboards. Simply hold down the keys and they auto-grow. Having to take hands off the keys would be a nono for me. That was the point of this thread.

Nate, is that a nudge key command or a step entry specific command?

Edit- posted at the same time as dorremifasol

Unfortunately, that doesn’t quite work while step-entering… While the key command itself does work, it only works on selected notes, and while step entering, the currently-entered note (chord) doesn’t get selected automatically.

So, presuming there is a function for this, by what means do you tell Cubase to add length to the currently-held note?

yes, that’s how it used to work. Quantize note set to 32nd…keydown = 32nd note … hold 2 seconds or so adds a 32nd to the length … hold 2 more secs, adds another 32nd …etc. Let go, cursor moves to end of note length.

I also used the GR and the highest 2 notes on my keyboard as curosor forward/back. Which would step by the Q.

Yes, you can press SHIFT-CURSOR left or right to ERASE notes, but not strictly the last ones added but all of them. You can not use this to build a melody over another one.

Well, without having a command to synchronize both cursors, if you play the song and stop on a point you want to edit, you need to move the step input cursor all the way to the new position, or use the mouse to set the new step input position. I would prefer to enter the Step input mode in the position of the play cursor, or at least being able to syncronize with it with a key command. I didn’t meant to change the actual behavior, only to have a new command.

If I move the step input cursor in quarter notes, I would find confusing to input a note longer than the steps I’ve moved. In my case it breaks the rhythm I’m counting in my head.

To me, holding the notes while moving the cursor to lengthen them makes perfect sense, you’ll have to move the cursor anyway…

But of course both methods would be absolutely compatible :slight_smile:

Doh! :blush:

Well, I’ve often suspected that I live in a parallel universe. If what you say is true, then I shall have to revise that opinion… the universe in which I live isn’t even parallel… it’s perpendicular! :open_mouth: :mrgreen:

Are you sure that was Cubase?

You could set up a key command to step through the quantize length values and assign it to far left or right keys via Generic Remote.

That’s how I’d work around the OP’s issue.

BTW, holding Shift while hitting the back button erases the note in the previous step. Thought I saw a request for that.

The way I read it, that is what used to happen without any workaround (but heaven only knows how! :wink: ) .

I replied to this above. This erases all the notes, not only the last input one. If you are doing step input over another melody you will erase the other notes too.