This is probably the most complex section of the whole sequencing process and therefore the most time consuming. In this section you will be introduced to the following concepts:
The main rhythmical backing for the sequence is from the electric piano, which plays a two bar rhythm based on quavers. These two bars are repeated as necessary with appropriate shifts for each chord change.
We have to make a decision about which track we should use for the Electric Piano. We have previously decided that tracks 11-16 will be used for scratch storage, track 10 for drums, and track 1 for the melody. Quite arbitrarily, we choose track 4 for the electric piano.
The final rhythm is syncopated and so somewhat tricky to play. We get around the problem by recording an easier, non-syncopated version, tidying it up, and then deleting some unwanted notes.
To "Tidy Up" the rhythm that we've just recorded, first of all we have to Quantize the notes; that is, move them so they all start exactly on a quaver beat. Fortunately, Cubase provides a feature to do this for us.
We finish the tidying up process by making sure that the notes are legato; that is, the end of each note is immediately followed by the start of the next note, with no gap between them. Fortunately, Cubase also provides features that will perform this step.
To create the syncopated rhythm we simply delete some unwanted notes. An interesting effect is that after deleting a note (or the last note of a chord), Cubase appears to replace the note by an equivalent length rest. In fact, Cubase only stores notes and doesn't store rests at all. When a note (or the last note in a chord) is deleted, it leaves a period of silence which Cubase's Score Editor interprets as a rest. This rest is simply an artifact of the Score editor - it doesn't really exist. You can prove this by trying to delete a rest - the editor just does nothing. After all, you can't delete what isn't really there.
Once we have the syncopated rhythm for two bars, we need to create multiple copies of it, changing the chord as appropriate. As we create any particular two bar section, we also copy it to a scratch track, so that we can quickly find it and re-use it as necessary. We will find that these sections will also help us to create the Electric Piano part for the chorus, too.
We will use the Score Editor to create each new part, each time based upon some previously created part. The simplest way is to use the mouse to select the notes we want to change, and then move them up and down the staff as necessary. By holding down the mouse button and dragging, we can draw a selection box around a group of notes and then move the whole group in one go.
Note. To select a note, you must click on the head only, not the tail.
If we want to, we can select an entire chord and move it up and down the staff; however, if we move an entire minor chord up or down in an attempt to create a major chord, the middle notes will remain flattened (minor thirds). We then have to select only the middle notes and move them up one semitone (to make major thirds).
A similar situation occurs if we try to move an entire minor chord to make a major chord, except this time the middle notes remain sharpened and have to be selected separately and then moved down by a semitone.
A quick reminder for Mac users: whenever you're asked to use the [CONTROL] key, you should actually use the key with the "Four Leaf Clover" logo! Mac fans like to call this the [COMMAND] key - even though it doesn't have the word "Command" embossed on it!
Cubase provides us with two special settings, called the Left and Right locators, which have various important functions when recording, editing and playing back music. These will be explained as we get to them. For now, you should remember that the Left locator should be set at the start of the section we intend to work on, and the Right locator should be set at the end of the section.
We can see the position of both locators on the transport bar, and also in the main Arrange window where they look like vertical lines enclosing an area normally coloured blue. The lines are headed by small triangular flags (circled in this diagram):
We can set the locators from the transport bar using the mouse techniques we've already seen, but it is normally more convenient to use the mouse (in the Arrange window) to drag the triangular flags flags to the desired positions.
Note.If we're not careful, we can get the left and right markers the wrong way round. When this happens, the area between them at the top of the arrange window goes dark red (instead of its normal blue colour).
The transport bar has similar buttons to a traditional tape recorder. These are shown in this figure:
Additionally, when the 'Cycle' button is active, playback will loop and repeat indefinitely between the left and right markers.
Cubase stores all musical information in one or more Parts. A Part might hold just a few notes, or all the data for one midi track.
When we look at the main Arrange window, we can see all the parts that make up the song. We can use the mouse to drag a part left or right and so change the time when it starts playing, or we can drag a part up and down so that it appears on a different track.
Sometimes it is useful to pull the start of a note exactly onto a beat. This function is called Quantization and is used to tidy up inaccurate playing. Notes are moved to positions specified by the current quantization setting:
| Setting | Moves notes to.. | Comments |
|---|---|---|
| 1-1 | Nearest whole note (semibreve) | First beat in the bar |
| 1-2 | Nearest half note (minim) | First and third beats in the bar |
| 1-4 | Nearest quarter note (crotchet) | Any beat in the bar |
| 1-8 | Nearest eighth note (quaver) | Any half beat in the bar |
So, if the quantization setting is 1-n then the bar is divided into n equal time intervals. When the Quantize operation is performed, notes are moved to the start of the nearest time interval.
When working in an editor, the Quantization setting also controls the snap positioning of each note. If we use the mouse to slide a note left or right, then it is only moved to a position given by the snap setting. For example, if the quantization setting is 1-8, then the note can only be moved to the nearest quaver position.
Individual notes can be selected and then dragged around the stave by using the mouse. As the note is moved, its pitch and position are shown in a data box beside the mouse cursor. A note may be moved up or down the staff in semitone intervals, and may be moved left or right according to the current snap setting.
However, many users find this very fiddly and prefer the following keyboard short cuts.
| Shortcut | Operation | |
|---|---|---|
| [LEFT ARROW] | Select the first or next note in the part | |
| [RIGHT ARROW] | Select the previous note in the part | |
| [SHIFT] [UP ARROW] | Move selected note(s) up by one octave | |
| [SHIFT] [DOWN ARROW] | Move selected note(s) down by one octave | |
| [ALT] [U] | Move selected note(s) up by one semitone | (Assigned in section 1, step 7) |
| [ALT] [D] | Move selected note(s) down by one semitone | (Assigned in section 1, step 7) |
| [CONTROL] [LEFT ARROW] | Move selected note(s) left by one snap position | |
| [CONTROL] [RIGHT ARROW] | Move selected note(s) right by one snap position |
Here you set up the initial values for the track, give it a meaningful name and set to it Electric Piano 2 (General Midi program number 6)
Follow these steps. Put a tick next to each one as you finish it:
So far we've just renamed the track, but we also need to tell Cubase which instrument sound (or "patch") we want for this track. If you look a little way below the name you just entered, you'll see the current patch (or instrument sound) assigned to this track. (If no patch has been assigned, then it may simply contain the word 'Off'
We will begin by recording a very simple rhythm, which will eventually become the basis for the Electric Piano parts of both the verse and chorus.
Follow these steps. Put a tick next to each one as you finish it:
If your musical knowledge isn't too hot, the chord consists of E (just above middle C) and played with the thumb of the right hand, G played with the middle finger and B played with the little finger.
The chord is repeated eight times in each bar (so it's pretty fast). Synchronise your playing with the clicks produced by the sequencer. You need to play the chord twice for each click.
The first few times you try, you'll probably make a complete mess of it! Delete the newly created part by highlighting it and then pressing [DELETE]. You can then try again.
When you think you've got it (more or less) right, proceed to the next step.
What you've played may be rather ragged, but Quantizing the notes may well tidy everything up. Since this is the first time we've entered the score editor, we should tell the editor that the smallest note we expect to display is the quaver (or eighth note). This makes the display less cluttered and less intimidating for the new user!
Follow these steps. Put a tick next to each one as you finish it:
We now have a simple two bar quaver rhythm, with the notes starting exactly on the beats. The next step is to make sure that the notes end at the right time.
For this part, we're going to use the Key Editor. This editor shows a piano keyboard going up the left hand side of the window, with bars and beats going horizontally across the top. Each note is shown as a coloured horizontal line, where the length of the line indicates the length of the note. You can easily see where each note starts and ends.
Ideally, the end of each note should just reach the beginning of the next note. The last notes in the sequence should just reach the end of the part. Since the start positions of all the notes are already quantized, all we have to do is set the length of each note to exactly one quaver.
Follow these steps. Put a tick next to each one as you finish it:
The simple quaver rhythm is too boring to use throughout the entire song. We will selectively delete notes from the part to create a more interesting rhythm. Note that deleting the final note in a chord appears to create an equivalent rest. This is a desirable feature and is due to the way that Cubase defines notes and rests.
Follow these steps. Put a tick next to each one as you finish it:
You will probably find it a good idea to drag the mouse to select all the notes in a chord and then press [DELETE] or [BACKSPACE] to delete them in one go.
Carefully erase the notes marked here. As you delete the last note in each
chord, Cubase replaces it by a rest:
When you've finished, you should end up with the following part:
The part you've just created has the same name as the track (probably "EPiano2"). However, we will be building up all 18 bars for the verse using (and re-using) two bar parts. To avoid getting horribly confused, we will need to give each part a different name. We should also copy our basic part to a scratch track so that we can re-use it later.
To give a new name to a part, we have select it, and then enter a new name for the part at the top left of the arrange window.
After we've given the part a new name, we're going to create a spare copy of it. We do this by holding down [ALT] whilst dragging the part.
Important. If you accidentally click on a part whilst holding down [ALT], then the part gets split into two parts. If this happens, then type [CONTROL-Z] to undo this action.
Follow these steps. Put a tick next to each one as you finish it:
You should now preserve a copy of this part, as follows:
The first bar of the verse is Em (which is why we've set up that chord in our Electric Piano part). However, the second bar is F (major) and so we need to edit this chord change into our part.
As we'll only be making changes to the pitch of the notes (and not their left-right positions) we'll set the snap setting to 1-1 (whole note/semibreve) so any accidental left/right mouse movements have to be really large to have any effect.
If you find it difficult to use the mouse to make small changes in pitch to a note, then you might like to try using this technique in the Score Editor:
This technique works when you have more than one note selected. All the selected notes get moved up or down each time to press an arrow key.
Some Mac users have problems with the score editor because they find that the default display size is too small to be seen clearly. If you're affected then you might find the following technique useful.
Important. Page Mode is used for detailed layout of scores ready for printing. One side effect of this is that it tends to show lots of empty bars before the music you really want to look at. It is important just to ignore these empty bars. Under no circumstances should you try to delete them, or put notes into them.
Follow these steps. Put a tick next to each one as you finish it:
Unfortunately, this change has created an F minor chord (with an Ab), not the F major chord required. To correct this problem, we need to raise all the Ab notes by one semitone.
If you make a hash of it, then you can undo the previous commands using [CONTROL-Z]. Additionally, you also have a spare copy of the part on track 12 which you can use in case of disaster.
We now continue creating the rest of the chord sequence, working in chunks (ie parts) of two bars. Each time we create a new part, we put a copy on track 12. Sometimes, we'll need to repeat a two bar part that we've already created, in which case we just copy it from track 12 and drag it to the appropriate position on track 4. We work this way until the entire chord sequence for the verse is finished.
Our chord sequence would sound very strange if we used a basic triad for
every chord. To make the sequence sound better we need to use some inverted
chords. We recommend that you use the versions of the chords shown here.
Although we show the chords using just semibreves (whole notes), you should actually use the syncopated quaver rhythm created earlier in this section. We've already done the first two bars (E minor followed by F) and so it's just a question of doing the remainder of the verse.
To minimise the amount of editing, we should try to re-use any parts that we've already created. Here's how to do it:
| "EPEmDm" | bars 3-4 | created from EPEmF | |
| "EPEmAm" | bars 5-6 | created from EPEmF | |
| "EPDmG" | bars 7-8 | created from EPEmEm | |
| "EPEmF" | bars 9-10 | a direct copy of EPEmF previously created | |
| "EPEmAm" | bars 11-12 | a direct copy of EPEmAm previously created | |
| "EPDmEm" | bars 13-14 | created from EPDmG | |
| "EPG7G7" | bars 15-16 | created from EPEmEm (with extra notes for the sevenths) | |
| "EPAmAm" | bars 17-18 | created from EPEmEm |
Follow these steps. Put a tick next to each one as you finish it:
To create "EPG7G7", you'll have to add extra 'F' notes to create the dominant sevenths. Do this as follows:
The notes should look like this:
The completed part should look like this:
Now's a good time to make sure that our chord sequence sounds nice. The sequence should sound smooth with pronounced pauses where the rests are located. Let's play back what we have so far.
When the Cycle button is selected, Cubase repeatedly plays all the music between the Left and Right locators. This allows us to hear our results several times, without using the "rewind" button.
Follow these steps. Put a tick next to each one as you finish it:
Although working with small two-bar parts is very handy when creating the chord sequence, for future working we should join all the separate parts together to create a single unit. Later on, we can conveniently create copies of our part for the later repeats in the song. Of course, we still have the individual copies that we've stored on track 12.
Follow these steps. Put a tick next to each one as you finish it:
Well done! You have now successfully created the Electric Piano part for the verse. There are still plenty more parts to create, but all of them will be simpler. You should also find that you work faster and faster as you get increasingly used to Cubase.
(Incidentally, all of this work would have taken an experienced Cubase user about 30 minutes!)
You're ready to proceed to the next section.