I came to S1 from Cakewalk, so there was the expectation that I could generate a new piano track, and just start writing by hand (my preference). This isn't an easy proposition in S1, at least not as far as I can determine. Notes audition, but don't write, unless I drag/select an area in the track on the mix screen. Only that area in the edit window can be written to.
Is there another way to generate a clean slate in the edit window that can be written to?

Windows 10
i5 6600k @3.5, 32GB ram
M-Audio M-Track Quad
Studio One 4 Pro

I thought it pretty much worked the same, been a while since I use cubase.
In either DAW I would create an event on a midi track with the pencil.
Then go back to a pointer and double click the event I created to open it up in piano roll, now the pencil should write notes right?
How was you doing it in cubase?

Studio OnePro 4 64bit Win10 i7 7700k 16gb ram
1TB SSD AsusH270M-PLUS interface:StudioKonnekt 48
Melodyne Studio - Nectar Impact LX25+
Where 'IS' Shitcreek? and
'WHY' would you go there without a paddle?

My first main daw was fl studio, but studio one's piano roll is just as good.
Only feature missing is filled by rewire tbh.
If you mean drawing notes, that's the same way as ableton either double clicking or entering drawmode/clicking the pencil icon and/or right clicking while holding the left clicker : P

[Daws I use:
Studio One[One of my favorite daws]
Reason[Main.]
Akai drumpads
88ES piano
Mouse/keyboard
AMD Desktop [Not an nvidia fan]
Windows 8-10 and linux

I find drawing and editing notes in the piano roll frustrating: I click the pencil tool to draw, and sometimes it adds a note, sometimes not. Sometimes a note gets drawn on the first click, but other times it takes furious rapid-clicking to get the note added.
Sometimes it acts fine, but not usually. I have no idea why.

Atari 5200, 64K RAM S1PRO Radio Shack Cassette Recorder w/internal Mic,

Step time programming in the piano roll works perfect for me every time. It does not seem to have problems for me at all.
To create an empty event simply set up the loop to be the desired length eg 4 or 8 bars. Double click in there anywhere on an instrument track and an empty event will appear. Double click on that again and you are into the piano roll. No need to create any events first.
Some tips:
Be mideful of the grid setting or your quantisation setting. If it's 1/8 ths then clicking only on the grid eigth notes will create notes. They wont work in between too well.
With no snap operating you can place any number of notes anywhere. Works for me.
Use key shortcuts numbers 1 and 3 to switch between the paint tool and the arrow tool. You need both. Paint for making notes, arrow for adjusting things. It gets easy to switch between then after a while and you will get super quick at it.
Putting the very end of either tool right at the end of a note makes it a trim length tool.

One little question I hadn't gotten around to yet while on the subject of piano roll MIDI notes..
Here, my notes only sound when I click the velocity bar (of that note) but not on the note itself. Is there a setting that I need to change in order to do this? I should be able to click the note and hear it, like in Logic, right?

Studio One 3.5.5, Mac Mini; 16 GB RAM, Sierra.

Yes you can hear notes. In the Inspector pane there is a little check box called 'Audition Notes'. Check this and the note should sound by clicking on it directly as well as velocity. But with chords it is a little harder to find the note you are after just using velocity alone.
Also don't forget too that a much better way to enter notes is from your keyboard in step time mode rather than the paint tool etc. It is really much easier and faster too. Chords can simply be played in one hit too. Changing note length is a simple matter of changing the note values. Rests can be inserted as well.
The keyboard approach also tracks your velocity info as well so you can get varying velocities depending on how hard you enter the notes. The paint tool will always be setting the velocity according to how it is set.
Also there is a better way too to create a blank instrument part. Just use the paint tool and paint a section any length to create blank instrument parts or events on the main arrange window on a midi/instrument track.
This thread has got me interested in more step time programming actually.
A really great video to watch is the Groove 3 tutorial Recording and Editing Midi. I picked up tons of stuff watching that. The midi side of Studio One is a lot more powerful than many realise.

Do you have the 'Audition Note' box checked on the left-hand side of the Edit area?

Windows 10
StudioOne 4 Pro
Presonus AudioBox 1818VSL
Korg Krome 61
Ensoniq MR61
Korg MicroStation
Akai MPK mini

Sorry Jemusic--I should have read your response more closely.

Windows 10
StudioOne 4 Pro
Presonus AudioBox 1818VSL
Korg Krome 61
Ensoniq MR61
Korg MicroStation
Akai MPK mini

Steptime-Recording is one of those mode's I really missed in my old daw Reason, especially in the days where I didn't really play the keyboard much, and hated having to draw notes in by hand or otherwise be forced to record in realtime. It's akin to programming in a way like the old days of Octamed, and it's a great way to lay down the beginnings of a track to work with. It's definately an area of Studio One I'd really like to see expanded on, such as with pattern blocks inside a clip that you can record to and select from like the old tracker system, but one important thing that is missing is pre-defined rest periods, ( the manual way just isn't as quick or fun and doing realtime playing in steptime is just meh).
Tip - One of the nice things you can do in Studio One is record in steptime and then bounce down the clip to audio and reverse the clip, and unmute the instrument track. It gives a unique sound especially if a pattern is symmetrical and quantised.