User manual

Table Of Contents
555
Expression maps (Cubase only)
Introduction
About articulations
Musical articulations, or expressions, define how certain notes “sound”, i. e. how they
are sung or performed on a given instrument. They allow you to specify that a string
instrument is bowed (not plucked), a trumpet muted (not played open), and so on.
Articulations also define the relative volume of notes (to play some notes louder or
softer than the others) or changes in pitch (create a tremolo).
Articulations can be divided into “Directions” and “Attributes”.
Directions are valid for all notes from the insert position on, until another direction
is scored. This means, they are applied not to single notes, but to a continuous
range of notes, or even an entire piece of music.
An example for a direction is pizzicato, which means that the string instrument is
plucked.
Attributes belong to single notes. They are only applied to the notes for which they
are scored.
Examples for this are accents, where a note is played with an emphasis, and
staccato, where a note is played shorter.
Musical
articulations in
the Score
Editor
Articulations and MIDI
When working with MIDI, i. e. when you are entering notes via a MIDI keyboard, editing
notes in the MIDI editors or using VST instruments, articulations need to be realized
as different sounds. To trigger the necessary sound changes, use the following
command and data types:
Pizzicato Tenuto Accent Staccato
AttributesDirection
Option Description
Program
Change
Program Change messages can be used to instruct a connected VST
instrument to switch from one program to another. Depending on the
instrument, this can be used to play a different articulation.
MIDI
channel
Multi-timbral instruments, such as Steinberg’s HALion, feature programs,
usually representing different articulations. These can be accessed via MIDI
channel messages.
Key
switches
Some software samplers, like Steinberg’s HALion Symphonic Orchestra,
make use of “key switches”, meaning that certain keys are not used to trigger
sounds, but to switch between articulations, for example.