Exactly. This started for me because I wanted to have the Listen and Mute functions in the Score Editor.
Now I have “partial solo mode” like Digital Performer, and consequentially, key commands to select tracks directly.
Using Keyboard Maestro, here are a missing functions I “added” to Cubase
a Suspend Snap function that does not interfere with with Tool Modifiers
“Find Next” in the Key Commands window
Activate Midi Input in Key and Score Edit only while key (or pedal) is held down
Same for step entry
nudge cursor right/left by quantize value in Score Edit
Key commands to scroll horizontally in Score edit view
Keyboard Maestro cannot see palettes such as Score Settings and other Score Edit windows, and in Cubase, key commands open them, but don’t close them if they don’t have focus, and, there’s no way to give them focus except by clicking on them.
i use autohotkeys for quite a few things in cubendo/windows, including:
– a macro that enables two separate key-commands for snap on, and snap off. so that ‘snap’ stops working in ‘toggle mode’ and you can always be sure that if you press the ‘snap on’ keycommand, snap will always be on, and you can edit fast without having to double-check whether the snap-icon is currently lit up (on), or off. took quite a while and it’s doing this in a very simplistic way by sampling the colour of pixels where the snap button is supposed to be (the location of the button is different based on whether you are in the arrange, key editor, sample editor, and audio part editor).
– pro-tools style trim automation. it’s an advanced version of a cubase native macro i posted a while ago on the forum. takes whatever automation curve resides inside the selected range, creates arbitrary automation events on either side of the range, and selects it for editing / scaling.
any actual ahk code for your enhancements is very welcome btw.
Yeah. AutoHotkeys is great because you can just go in and type the command you want, and bypass all the UI stuff. In fact I was checking out switching to Windows just so I could to use it, but I could never figure out how to get midi includes to work with it…
Mac has Applescript but it is not as sleek, and much more verbose.
Sorry to hear that Rhino… Hope you get it sorted down the line.
In other (Mac) news, here’s an applescript to launch the last saved project. You load it into Keyboard Maestro, or use Applescript Editor to make it into a double-clickable app.
if application "Cubase 7" is running then
tell application "Cubase 7"
activate --bring cubase to front if it's running already, then exit script.
end tell
else
tell application "Cubase 7" to launch
tell application "System Events"
key down command --press command key
set timer to 1 --to permit script to timeout gracefully
repeat
delay 1 --wait 1 second
if (window 1 of process "Cubase 7" exists) then
exit repeat
end if
set timer to timer + 1 --increment timer value
if timer > 10 then --script will release command key after 90 seconds in case Cubase couldn't launch or something else goes wrong You can adjust this value to suit. My system has an SSD, Cubase launches in about 8 seconds.
exit repeat
end if
end repeat
key up command --release command key
tell application "Cubase 7"
activate --bring cubase to front
end tell
keystroke return
end tell
end if
edit: (and this is assuming Cubase is not already running…)
This is the way I get Cubase to load the most recent project. It’s assuming that Cubase is already running.
Create a macro in Keyboard Maestro, add Execute AppleScript event, and fill in this code:
tell application "System Events"
tell application process "Cubase"
click menu item 1 of menu "Recent Projects" of menu item "Recent Projects" of menu "File" of menu bar item "File" of menu bar 1
end tell
end tell
You can then assign it a global keyboard shortcut. I assign it Cmd+Shift+O which is Pro Tool’s open recent command.
I’d never come across AutoHotKey - it’s very useful, thanks, Steve!
Here’s what I’ve done with it so far:
;>>>>>>>>>>> Cubase macros and key commands: <<<<<<<<<<
;<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
;<><><><> Functions to check for and change conditions <><><><>
focusCubase(inputKey) ;Checks if Cubase is running and brings to front. Passes key command and exits if Cubase not found.
{
IfWinExist Cubase 7
WinActivate
else
{
send %inputKey%
exit
}
}
focusProjectWindow() ;Brings Project Window to front.
{
IfWinExist, Cubase 7
WinActivate
else
return
}
focusMixer() ;Checks if Mix Console is open (opens it if not) and brings to front.
{
IfWinExist, MixConsole
WinActivate
else
{
send {F3}
WinActivate
;msgBox Opened mixer for you
return
}
}
focusKeyEditor() ;Checks if Key Editor is is open (opens it if not) and brings to front.
{
IfWinExist, Cubase, Key
{
ControlFocus, Key, Cubase
;MsgBox Key Editor already open. I've brought it to the front for you.
return
}
else
{
send ^e
ControlFocus, Key, Cubase
;MsgBox Opened the key editor for you
return
}
}
;<><><><> Key commands <><><><>
; >>>>>>> Search for track in Project Window (ctrl+F)<<<<<<<<
$^f::
inputKey = ^f
focusCubase(inputKey)
focusProjectWindow()
send %inputKey%
return
; >>>>>>> Search for channel in Mix Console (ctrl+alt+F)<<<<<<<<
$^!f::
inputKey = ^!f
focusCubase(inputKey)
focusMixer()
send ^f
;send {#}{space}
;I use the above line because I have all my VSTi outputs named with the "# " prefix to filter out all the other channels when I search - remove the semi-colon if you like this.
return
; >>>>>>> Open channel editor (alt+E)<<<<<<<<
$!e::
inputKey = !e
focusCubase(inputKey)
focusMixer()
send %inputKey%
return
; >>>>>>> Open VI editor (V)<<<<<<<<
$v::
inputKey = v
focusCubase(inputKey)
focusProjectWindow()
send %inputKey%
return
; >>>>>>> Open Key editor (ctrl+E)<<<<<<<<
$^E::
inputKey = ^E
focusCubase(inputKey)
focusProjectWindow()
focusKeyEditor()
return
Hope it’s of some use or gives some ideas to others.
Nice addition. If you write others do share! Maybe include a description for those who aren’t (yet) fluent in codespeak…
Those look really solidly built.
In the spirit, here are a couple Keyboard Maestro macros that enable horizontal scrolling in Score Edit view via keyboard commands (or any other trigger KM can use)
I’ve made some improvements (changed the code block in my post above) and also commented what I’ve done better. I’ve set it up now so that the first thing that happens with any AutoHotKeys keycommand in the script is that it checks if Cubase is open and brings it to the front if it is. If Cubase isn’t running it passes the key stroke through with no action - so that key commands in other programs will do what you expect if Cubase isn’t running.
I have got separate functions for “focus project window”, “focus (or open) the mixer” and "focus (or open) the key editor so that others can easily use those as part of other macros. Hope it’s useful. BTW, I’m in no way a proper coder so what I’ve done may not be very elegant… but it does seem to work fine.
Thanks Steve, this is one of those things that never really bothered me but glad to see working better now that I see the light. This of course no longer lets the mix window toggle which is fine since command+w closes it quickly when you want it closed. It makes sense the Project window does work right because you always have to have it open unlike the Mix window, so hence the toggle state when you press the shortcut.
Where in the key commands have you assigned it to a shortcut? I know it is in the Windows Menu but it doesn’t show up in the key commands list under windows or any other place I can find.
Related it would be so helpful to have multiple project windows open so you can be in different locations for editing, this is so helpful in Logic and even better in Pyramix with an integrated window. Maybe you have found a magical way to make that happen
I would love to look and any and all Cubase shortcuts you have in QuicKeys as I use that all the time.
I mainly use Keyboard Meastro, and just use Quickeys (which I bought years and years ago) for certain window switching stuff, since Maestro can’t see Always-on-Top windows and palettes.
Here’s one I use to make the Mixconsole open if it’s closed, or to bring it to front if it’s open, rather than the simple toggle that’s native to Cubase.
The other Quickeys macros I have only work in conjunction with Keyboard Maestro.
Great thanks Project:Bring to Front very helpful no more cmd+` through windows.
Thanks for the quicKeys script, looks like the first one you posted with future proofing of Cubase 8 (unless you have a beta). What does cmd+option+a do for you in the shortcut? For me that selects all tracks (not aware of a default in Cubase for this).
Hopefully others find this useful, I have been so frustrated and missed the function Pro Tools has of Control+Shift Click on the channel you click. This lets that track become the left most fader on your control surface. Well this Quickeys action in someways is better in other ways not as nice.
The way it is better is that it works for all selected tracks even if they are not contiguous, and focuses them to the fades on your control surface.
The way it is not better is it doesn’t move the top selected tracks to the top in the Project window and it hides the non selected channel strips in MixConsole 1.
In order for this to work the best without hiding the selected channels you want to have Sync Project and Mix Console turned off (turn it on if you want to hide the other tracks in the project page as well).
This is a wonderful solution I wish I and thought about much, much earlier. I might send my PreSonus FaderPort back now that didn’t run in 64 bit mode with Cubase and just stick with the MCU (Mackie Control Universal) now that I can easily focus what I am on.
If there is a way to do this accurately with using a macro only I am all in favor please let me know. The problem I found was that you would have to write the Macro to depend on the MixConsole 1 being open or closed respectively. For me I just want it to work regardless if it is open or not.
By the way the track show hides don’t work with the other MixConsoles that I could find unless there is a preference to change this behavior. I would really like to not hide the main MixConsole 1 channel strips with this command but that is the only way I could find to pull this function off.
In this QK file control+option+command+end is “Agents: Show Only Selected Channels/Tracks” and control+option+shift+F3 is Project: “Bring to Front”. Those aren’t menu items so assign those to whatever key commands make sense and modify the last two commands accordingly.
These days I am working on a Windows PC, so I don’t have quick access to the macros. I’m not sure how helpful they would be to you, anyway. Also, in Cubase 8 the mixer no longer has always-on-top, which means I would have to edit the macros to accommodate.
As far as QK and KM competing with one another, I avoided that by making sure manually that no duplicate keystrokes were assigned.
Thanks Steve, this looks like the only uploaded Keyboard Maestro macros ever posted other than the one I posted (excluding screenshots since that is more difficult to search for Google). I like the idea of how you had the macro repeat while the key was held down, smart and useful method.
I slightly modified the scroll left for the score since it depended on the inspector being closed in modern version of Cubase. I thought about updating it to be based of an image but chose not to so I just disabled your version if someone wanted to bring it back. I like how you made it scroll regardless but also work in the score. From the name I was thinking it was only for scrolling in the score. I use the magic trackpad for a lot of this but will start using these key commands more since they feel much more accurate to me then the two finger scroll.
Also added some other scroll up and down and zoom in commands to the attached six Keyboard Maestro macros. The zoom commands depend on command being part of the modifier to work. Also the reason I mapped them to Home, End, Delete and Page down is because those are what I often use as alternates to the arrow keys on a full size keyboard since it is mapped to the same shape just above the arrow keys. Scroll and Zoom in Cubase.kmmacros.zip (73.8 KB)
Waveform Zoom
Here is zooming the waveform using Keyboard Maestro for the Mac.
There are six macros
-Two of them move your cursor and zooms in and out smoothly.
-Two of them jump in increments and return your cursor to the previous location
-And finally two of them jump to max and normal wave form zoom sizes.
I have them mapped out to the home, end, delete and page down keys because they are like the arrow keys and the smooth zooming I mapped to the number pad plus and minus keys. Note you need to at least show the Status Line for this to work. You can also show the Status plus either the Overview or the Info Line but not both since it clicks relative to the window location. I have included one other example macro that works based on image, it is only slightly slower in execution but has less variables like if you show the docked racks. Waveform Zoom.zip (130 KB)