MIDI Devices and Features
Original Manual: Synkron Revision and Quality Control: C. Bachmann, H. Bischoff, S. Pfeifer, C. Schomburg The information in this document is subject to change without notice and does not represent a commitment on the part of Steinberg Media Technologies GmbH. The software described by this document is subject to a License Agreement and may not be copied to other media except as specifically allowed in the License Agreement.
Table of Contents
5 MIDI devices 6 6 Background MIDI devices – general settings and patch handling 17 MIDI effects 18 19 21 23 26 27 27 28 29 32 33 34 38 42 42 Introduction Arpache 5 Autopan Chorder Compress Density Micro Tuner MIDIControl MIDIEcho Note to CC Quantizer Step Designer Track Control Track FX Transformer 43 Working with System Exclusive messages 44 44 47 48 Introduction Bulk dumps Recording System Exclusive parameter changes Editing System Exclusive messages 51 Logical Presets, Transformer and Input
1 MIDI devices
Background The MIDI Device Manager allows you to specify and set up your MIDI devices, making global control and patch selection easy. MIDI devices – general settings and patch handling On the following pages, we will describe how to install and set up preset MIDI devices, and how to select patches by name from within Cubase SE. This section also describes how to create a MIDI device from scratch.
Unfortunately, different instrument manufacturers use different schemes for how Bank Select messages should be constructed, which can lead to some confusion and make it hard to select the correct sound. Also, selecting patches by numbers this way seems unnecessarily cumbersome, when most instruments use names for their patches nowadays.
Installing a MIDI device There is an important difference between installing a preset MIDI device and importing a MIDI device setup: • The presets available in the Install Device dialog do not include any device mapping of parameters and controls and no graphic panels. They are simply patchname scripts. When you install a preset MIDI device it is added to the Installed Devices list. • A device setup can include device mapping, panels and/or patch information.
The Patch Banks list in the left half of the window shows the patch structure of the device. This could simply be a list of patches, but it’s usually one or several layers of banks or groups containing the patches (much like a folder structure on a hard disk for example). • You can rename a device in the Installed Devices list by double clicking and typing – this is useful if you have several devices of the same model, and want to separate them by name instead of by number.
About Patch Banks Depending on the selected device, you may find that the Patch Banks list is divided in two or more main banks. Typically, these are called Patches, Performances, Drums etc. The reason for having several patch banks is that different “types” of patches are handled differently in the instruments. For example, while “patches” typically are “regular” programs that you play one at the time, “performances” may be combinations of patches, which could e.g.
Selecting a patch for an installed device If you return to the Project window at this point, you will find that the installed device has been added to the MIDI Output menus (in the track list and the Inspector). Now you can select patches by name, in the following way: 1. Pull down the Output menu (in the track list or Inspector) for a track that you want to play the installed device, and select the device. This directs the track to the MIDI output specified for the device in the MIDI Device Manager.
Renaming patches in a device The pre-configured devices list is based on the factory-preset patches, i.e. the patches included in the device when you first bought it. If you have replaced some of the factory presets with your own patches, you need to modify the device so that the patch name list matches the actual device: 1. In the MIDI Device Manager, select the device in the Installed Devices list. 2. Activate the Enable Edit checkbox.
Defining a new MIDI device This section describes how to define a new MIDI device. If your MIDI device is not included in the list of pre-configured devices (and is not a “plain” GM or XG device), you need to define it manually to make it possible to select patches by name. 1. In the MIDI Device Manager, click the Install Device button. The Add MIDI Device dialog appears. 2. Select “Define New...” and click OK. A dialog appears. 3.
The Commands pop-up menu contains the following items: Create Bank Creates a new bank at the highest hierarchical level of the Patch Banks list. You can rename this by clicking on it and typing a new name. New Folder Creates a new subfolder in the selected bank or folder. This could correspond to a group of patches in the MIDI device, or just be a way for you to categorize sounds, etc. When you select this item, a name dialog will appear, allowing you to name the folder.
• To add another MIDI event (e.g. Bank Select) click directly below the last event in the list and select a new event from the pop-up menu that appears. After adding a new event, you need to set its value in the Value column, as with Program Change. • To replace an event, click on it and select another event from the popup menu.
2. Use the Range column to set up either a fixed value or a range of values for each event type in the list. This requires some explanation: If you specify a single value in the Range column (e.g. 3, 15 or 127), all added presets will have an event of this type set to the same value. If you instead specify a value range (a start value and an end value, separated by a dash, e.g.
2 MIDI effects
Introduction This chapter describes the included MIDI realtime effects and their parameters. How to apply and handle MIDI effects is described in the chapter “MIDI realtime parameters and effects” in the Operation Manual.
Arpache 5 A typical arpeggiator accepts a chord (a group of MIDI notes) as input, and plays back each note in the chord separately, with the playback order and speed set by the user. The Arpache 5 arpeggiator does just that, and more. Before describing the parameters, let’s look at how to create a simple, typical arpeggio: 1. Select a MIDI track and activate monitoring (or record enable it) so that you can play “thru” the track.
Parameters The Arpache 5 has the following settings: Setting Description Playmode buttons Allows you to select the playback order for the arpeggiated notes. The options are down+up, up+down, up, down, random (“?” button) and “Order off”, in which case you can set the playback order manually with the Play Order fields below. Quantize Determines the speed of the arpeggio, as a note value related to the project tempo. The range is 32T (1/32 note triplets) to 1. (dotted note values).
Autopan This plug-in works a bit like an LFO in a synthesizer, allowing you to send out continuously changing MIDI controller messages. One typical use for this is automatic MIDI panning (hence the name), but you can select any MIDI Continuous Controller event type. The Autopan effect has the following parameters: Waveform selectors These determine the shape of the controller curves sent out.
Density This determines the density of the controller curves sent out. The value can be set in ticks (1/480ths of quarter notes), or as rhythmically exact note values (by clicking the arrow buttons next to the value). The higher the note value, the smoother the controller curve. For example, if you set this to 60 (shown as “32th”) a new controller event will be sent out every 60th tick (at every 1/32 note position).
Chorder The Chorder is a MIDI chord processor, allowing you to assign complete chords to single keys in a multitude of variations. There are three main modes of operation: Normal, Octave and Global. You switch between these modes by clicking the respective button to the left below the keyboard. Normal mode In this mode, you can assign a different chord to each single key on the keyboard. Proceed as follows: 1.
Octave mode The Octave mode is similar to the Normal mode, but you can only set up one chord for each key in an octave (that is, twelve different chords). When you play a C note (regardless of whether it’s a C3, C4 or any other octave) you will hear the chord set up for the C key. Global mode In the Global mode, you only set up a single chord, using the Chord Setup keyboard display (the lower keyboard display is hidden).
Using switches The Switch Setup section at the bottom of the panel allows you to set up variations to the defined chords. This works with all three modes and provides a total of eight variations for each assignable key (that is, a maximum of 8 different chords in Global mode, 12x8 chords in Octave mode and 128x8 chords in Normal mode). The variations can be controlled by velocity or note range. Here’s how you set it up: 1. Select one of the two switch modes: velocity or note.
Switch mode Description Note • In this mode, the chorder will play one chord at a time – you cannot play several different chords simultaneously. When the Note switch mode is selected, you play a key to determine the base note for the chord, then press a higher key to select a variation. The variation number will be the difference between the two keys. To select variation 1, press a key one semitone higher than the base note, for variation 2, press a key two semitones higher, and so on.
Density This generic control panel affects the “density” of the notes being played from (or thru) the track. When this is set to 100%, the notes are not affected. Lowering the Density setting below 100% will randomly filter out or “mute” notes. Raising the setting above 100% will instead randomly add new notes. Micro Tuner The Micro Tuner lets you set up a different microtuning scheme for the instrument, by detuning each key.
MIDIControl This generic control panel allows you to select up to eight different MIDI controller types, and use the value fields/sliders to set values for these. A typical use for this would be if you’re using a MIDI instrument with parameters that can be controlled by MIDI controller data (e.g. filter cutoff, resonance, levels, etc.). By selecting the correct MIDI controller types, you can use the plug-in as a control panel for adjusting the sound of the instrument from within Cubase SE, at any time.
MIDIEcho This is an advanced MIDI Echo, which will generate additional echoing notes based on the MIDI notes it receives. It creates effects similar to a digital delay, but also features MIDI pitch shifting and much more. As always it is important to remember that the effect doesn’t “echo” the actual audio, but the MIDI notes which will eventually produce the sound in the synthesizer.
Repeat This is the number of echoes (1 to 12) from each incoming note. Echo-Quant. The Echo-Quant. parameter sets the delay time, i.e. the time between a played note and its first echo note. You can either use the slider or type to set the value in ticks (1/480 ticks of quarter notes) or click the arrow buttons to step between the “rhythmically exact” delay times (displayed as note values – see the table below).
Length Decay This parameter lets you adjust how the length of the echoed notes should change with each successive repeat. The higher the setting (25 – 100), the longer the echoed notes will be compared to their original notes. About ticks and note values The timing- and position-related parameters (Echo-Quant., Length and Quantize) can all be set in ticks. There are 480 ticks to each quarter note.
Note to CC This effect will generate a MIDI continuous controller event for each incoming MIDI note. The value of the controller event corresponds to the note number (pitch) and the single parameter allows you to select which MIDI controller should be sent out (by default controller 7, MIDI volume). The incoming MIDI notes pass through the effect unaffected.
Quantizer Quantizing is a function that changes the timing of notes by moving them towards a “quantize grid”. This grid may consist of e.g. straight sixteenth notes (in which case the notes would all get perfect sixteenth note timing), but could also be more loosely related to straight note value positions (applying a “swing feel” to the timing, etc.). • The main Quantize function in Cubase SE is described in the Operation manual.
Step Designer The Step Designer is a MIDI pattern sequencer that sends out MIDI notes and additional controller data according to the pattern you set up. It does not make use of the incoming MIDI, other than automation data (such as recorded pattern changes). Creating a basic pattern 1. Use the Pattern selector to choose which pattern to create. Each Step Designer can hold up to 200 different patterns. 2. Use the Quantize setting to specify the “resolution” of the pattern.
• The display spans one octave (as indicated by the pitch list to the left). You can scroll the displayed octave up or down by clicking in the pitch list and dragging up or down. This way you can insert notes at any pitch. Note that each step can contain one note only – the Step Designer is monophonic. Click and drag to view other octaves. • To remove a note from the pattern, click on it again. 5. Select “Velocity” on the Controllers pop-up menu.
Adding controller curves The Controllers pop-up menu holds two more items: two controller types. • You can select which two controller types (filter cutoff, resonance, volume, etc.) should be available on the pop-up menu by clicking the Setup button and selecting controllers from the lists that appears. This selection is global to all patterns. • To insert controller information in a pattern, select the desired controller from the pop-up menu and click in the controller display to draw events.
Function Description Swing The Swing parameter allows you to offset every second step, creating a swing or shuffle feel. The value is a percentage – the higher you set this, the farther to the right every even step is moved. Presets Handling of Presets is described in the chapter “MIDI realtime settings” in the Operation manual. Note that a stored Preset contains all 200 patterns in the Step Designer.
Track Control The Track Control effect contains three ready-made control panels for adjusting parameters on a GS or XG compatible MIDI device. The Roland GS and Yamaha XG protocols are extensions of the General MIDI standard, allowing for more sounds and better control of various instrument settings. If your instrument is compatible with GS or XG, the Track Controls effect allows you to adjust sounds and effects in your instrument from within Cubase SE.
About the Reset and Off buttons Regardless of the selected mode, you will find two buttons labelled “Off” and “Reset” at the top of the control panel: • • Clicking the Off button will set all controls to their lowest value, without sending out any MIDI messages. Clicking the Reset button will set all parameters to their default values, and send out the corresponding MIDI messages. For most parameters, the default values will be zero or “no adjustment”, but there are exceptions to this.
XG Effects + Sends The following controls are available when the XG Effects + Sends mode is selected: Control Description Send 1 Send level for the reverb effect. Send 2 Send level for the chorus effect. Send 3 Send level for the “variation” effect. Attack Adjusts the attack time of the sound. Lowering this value shortens the attack, while raising it gives a slower attack. Middle position means no adjustment is made. Release Adjusts the release time of the sound.
XG Global Settings In this mode, the parameters affect global settings in the instrument(s). Changing one of these settings for a track will in fact affect all MIDI instruments connected to the same MIDI output, regardless of the MIDI channel setting of the track. Therefore, to avoid confusion it might be a good idea to create an empty track and use this only for these global settings. The following controls are available: Control Description Eff.
Track FX This plug-in is essentially a duplicate of the Track Parameter section. This can be useful if you e.g. need extra Random or Range settings, or if you prefer to have your track parameters in a separate window (to get this, [Alt]/[Option]-click the Edit button for the effect). The Track FX also includes an additional function that isn’t available among the track parameters: Scale Transpose This allows you to transpose each incoming MIDI note, so that it fits within a selected musical scale.
3 Working with System Exclusive messages
Introduction System Exclusive (SysEx) is a special type of MIDI message used to send things that only make sense to a unit of a certain make and type. Every major MIDI manufacturer has its own SysEx identity code. System Exclusive messages are typically used for transmitting patch data, i.e. the numbers that make up the settings of one or more sounds in a MIDI instrument. Cubase SE allows you to record and manipulate System Exclusive data in various ways.
1. Open the Preferences dialog from the File menu (on the Mac, this is located on the Cubase SE menu) and select the MIDI–MIDI Filter page. This allows you to govern which MIDI event types should be recorded and/or thru-put. 2. Deactivate the Sysex checkbox in the Record section, but make sure the Sysex checkbox in the Thru section is activated. With this setting (shown in the figure above) SysEx messages will be recorded but not echoed back out to the instrument (which could lead to strange results). 3.
If your MIDI instrument doesn’t offer a way to initiate a dump “by itself”, you have to send a Dump Request message from Cubase SE to start the dump. You will then have to use the MIDI SysEx Editor (see page 48) to insert the specific Dump Request message (see the instrument’s documentation) at the beginning of a MIDI track. When you activate recording, the Dump Request message will be played back (sent to the instrument), the dump will start and be recorded as above.
• • • If you create parts with useful “SysEx dumps”, you can put these on a special muted track. When you want to use one of them, drag it to an empty unmuted track and play it back from there. Do not transmit several SysEx dumps to several instruments at the same time. Make a note of the current device ID setting of the instrument. If you change this, the instrument may refuse to load the dump later.
Editing System Exclusive messages While System Exclusive events are shown in the List Editor, their entire content is not (only the beginning of the message is displayed in the Comment column for the event). Furthermore, you cannot edit the event (other than moving it) as you can with other event types in the List Editor. Instead, you use the MIDI SysEx Editor for this. • To open the MIDI SysEx Editor for an event, click in the Comments column for the event in the List Editor.
Selecting and viewing values To select a value, either click on it or use the cursor keys. The selected byte is indicated in various formats: • • • In the main display, values are shown in hexadecimal format. To the right of this, values are shown in ASCII format. At the bottom of the dialog, the selected value is shown in binary and decimal formats. Editing a value The selected value can be edited directly in the main display or in the decimal and binary displays.
CUBASE SE 3 – 50 Working with System Exclusive messages
4 Logical Presets, Transformer and Input Transformer
Introduction About the Logical Presets Most of the time you will probably perform your MIDI editing graphically, from one of the main graphic editors. But there are times when you want more of a “search and replace” function on MIDI data, and that’s where the Logical Presets come in and allow you to perform very powerful processing. The Logical Presets are found in the MIDI menu. • To apply a preset, select it from the Logical Presets submenu. This applies the preset to the selected MIDI part directly.
Setting up filter conditions General procedure The upper list is where you set up the filter conditions, determining which events to find. The list contains one or several conditions, each on a separate line. • If you want to start from scratch (as opposed to basing your settings on an existing preset) you may want to initialize the settings by clicking the Init button. • To add a new line (condition) click the Add Line button to the right. The new line is added at the bottom of the list.
Column Description Parameter 2 This column is only used if you have selected one of the “Range” options in the Condition column. Typically, this allows you to find all events with values inside (or outside) the range between Parameter 1 and Parameter 2. bool This allows you to insert the boolean operators And/Or, when creating conditions with multiple lines. See page 60.
Searching for notes of certain lengths Only note events have lengths (actually, a note is made up of separate note-on and note-off events but in Cubase SE it’s considered as a single event with a length). Therefore, the “Length” Filter Target is only valid if you’re specifically searching for notes – there has to be another condition line with the Filter Target “Type”, Condition “Equal” and Parameter 1 set to “Note”. See page 60 for more about using multiple filter conditions.
The general procedures when searching for value 1 or 2 are: • If you select any Condition other than the Range options, you set up a specific value in the Parameter 1 column. Here, the Logical Editor will find all events with a value 2 less than 80. • If you select the Inside or Outside Range option in the Condition column, the range consists of the values between Parameter 1 and Parameter 2. Note that Parameter 1 should have the lower value.
Searching for MIDI channels Each MIDI event contains a MIDI channel setting (1-16). Normally, these settings are not used, since the MIDI event plays back on the MIDI channel set for its track. However, you can come across MIDI parts with events set to different channels in the following scenarios for example: • • If you have recorded MIDI from an instrument sending on several different channels (e.g. a master keyboard with different key zones).
Searching for properties On the Filter Target pop-up menu you will find an option called Property. This allows you to search for properties that are not part of the MIDI standard but rather event-specific Cubase SE settings. When the Property option is selected, the Condition column has two options: “Property is set” and “Property is not set”. Which property to look for is selected in the Parameter 1 column. The options are “muted” and “selected”.
Searching for event contexts On the Filter Target pop-up menu you will find an option called “Last Event”. This can be used to perform context dependant searches. "Last Event" indicates the state of an event which has already passed the Input Transformer. The condition has to be combined with Parameter 1 and Parameter 2.
Combining multiple condition lines As described above, you can add condition lines by clicking the Add Line button to the right of the list. The result of combining condition lines depends on the boolean And/Or operators. The bool column By clicking in the “bool” column to the right in the list, you can select a boolean operator: “And” or “Or”.
Selecting a function The pop-up menu in the top left corner of the Transformer is where you select the function – the basic type of editing to be performed. When you select an option from the pop-up menu, the field to the right displays a clarifying text, making it easier to see what the function does. The current settings are automatically applied in real time during playback or live playing. Below, the available options are listed.
Specifying actions The lower list in the Input Transformer window is the action list. This is where you specify any changes that should be made to the found events (relevant for all function types except Delete). The handling of the action list is similar to the filter condition list, but without the booleans. You simply add lines by clicking the Add Line button to the right, and fill out the columns as required. To remove a superfluous action line, select it and click the Delete Line button.
Operation This setting determines what to do with the Action Target. The options on this pop-up menu are different depending on the selected Action Target. Below, all available operations are listed: Add Adds the value specified in the Parameter 1 column to the Action Target. Subtract Subtracts the value specified in the Parameter 1 column from the Action Target. Multiply by Multiplies the Action Target value with the value specified in the Parameter 1 column.
Set to fixed value This sets the Action Target to the value specified in the Parameter 1 column. Transpose to Scale This is only available when Action Target is set to Value 1, and when the filter conditions are specifically set up to find notes (a “Type = Note” filter condition line has been added). When “Transpose to Scale” is selected, you can specify a musical scale using the Parameter 1 and 2 columns. Parameter 1 is the key (C, C#, D, etc.
Applying the defined actions • Again, when using the Transformer MIDI effect the processing is applied to the events played back from the track (or played live “thru” the track) as soon as you set it up. Since no existing events on the track are affected by the Transformer setting, there is no need for undo. The Input Transformer This function allows you to selectively filter out and change MIDI data coming to a MIDI track before it is recorded.
• Select Global to make Input Transformer settings that affect all MIDI inputs (and thereby all MIDI tracks). • Select Local to make Input Transformer settings for this track only. In both cases, the button lights up and the Input Transformer opens. Handling the four modules The Input Transformer is really four separate transformers, or modules. • You select which module to view and make settings for by clicking its button in the Selected Module section. Module 2 selected for viewing and editing.
The two modes The Mode pop-up menu contains two options: Filter and Transform. • In Filter mode, only the filter conditions (the upper list) are taken into account. All events matching the conditions set up will be filtered out (excluded from the recording). • In Transform mode, events matching the filter conditions will be transformed according to the settings in the action list (the lower list).
CUBASE SE 4 – 68 Logical Presets, Transformer and Input Transformer
Index
A Arpache 5 19 Arpeggiator 19 Autopan (MIDI effect) 21 MIDI Echo (MIDI effect) 29 MIDI Input Transformer 65 MIDI Step Sequencer 34 MIDIControl (MIDI Effect) 28 B N Bank Select 6 Note to CC (MIDI effect) 32 C P Chorder (MIDI effect) 23 Compress (MIDI effect) 26 D Patch Banks 10 Pattern Sequencer 34 Prg field 11 Program Change 6 Density (MIDI Effect) 27 Q G Quantizer (MIDI effect) 33 Global (Input Transformer) 66 GS Control Panel 38 R I Input Transformer 65 L Local (Input Transformer) 66 Log
