Score Editor : Export to PDF

We should be able to generate a proper and clean vector PDF for a score. Using the Windows PDF printer is not an option, the quality is not acceptable.
An icon shortcut to be able to do this in one click would also be greatly appreciated since it is an extremely common task.

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Absolutely, this is the kind of things that the Score Editor should probably have had from the beginning.
And a printer button in the toolbar would be nice.
Personaly I have assigned CTRL + P key command to Print.
The default Windows PDF quality is acceptable. I also use Adobe PDF printer, but honestly the difference is very slight.

But one thing that probably not everyone knows and which should be noted is that drawing in the Score Editor and output have been dramatically improved since Cubase 10.5. :wink:

There is still some work left to do, especially on the slurs, but that’s already huge!

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I’ve been using the Microsoft pdf printer with Cubase 12, with excellent results. @Maestro have you seen a change in the output quality in C12?

@steve I didn’t see any change in quality :smiling_face_with_tear:
When you cannot output your score, the quality is secondary :grin:
(I am referring to scores containing imported images bug on Windows)

Thing is Microsoft has a business focus on office environments, multiple teams who only work on printing related stuff and massive worldwide resources. If a company in that position isn’t getting PDF printing right, why would you think Steinberg would do a better job?

It’s kinda like you didn’t like the tires Ford puts on their cars and expected a better tire to come with the Bose radio.

@raino There is a pretty big difference between printing to PDF and exporting to PDF. Microsoft Office does the former.

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+1 If cubase does not have its own PDF generator, it should at least have an alliance with one that exports with sufficient quality, has several options and does not display annoying advertising and of course that comes in the Cubase installer…

A bmp image is totally useless in these circumstances, I mean, honestly who uses bmp to print their scores? those of us who want to use the functionality are not printing 2 octaves on the single C note… I’m surprised that DAWs like FL can do this and PRO Daws like Cubase have this option broken or nonexistent.

Where can I get this one? I did a search on google but only see reader from Microsoft

It’s a virtual printer that is part of Windows so it should just be there. Although the proper name seems to be “Microsoft” and not “Windows”

image

EDIT

OK, I’m more on the Lead Sheet rather than the Engraving side of the universe, but the quality of the PDF Printer looks fine to me.

Ignore the actual music - it is just random notes drawn in the Key Editor to test something.

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