Changing locator positions without using a mouse?

Hi there,

Does anyone know how I can change the locator positions using shortcuts on my PC keyboard and not my mouse?

For example if I loop the first 8 bars of my arrangement (to work out a melody) but then decide to work on the first 4 bars it’s a real pain to have to hover my mouse cursor over bar 8 and bring the locator back 4 bars! I know I can also use my scroll wheel to adjust the left and right locator positions at the bottom of the project window but I’d rather use something like the back and forwards arrows on my PC keyboard to move the locators back or forwards one bar at a time.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Kind regards

James Colah

there are several ways to set L/R locators
1:you can select an event and use the P key to move locators to events size
2:you can use the range tool and use the P key
3:for entering locators position only using the keyboard’’ there are commands on the Key commands editor.
for example search for “Enter left locator” command and assign key command to it.now you can enter only with keyboard the value of the left locator.do the same for the right locator.
4: click with left mouse on the rouler while holding Ctrl/Alt to set L/R locators

there are other options also ,try to search on the key commands editor with “locator” and see what options it brings to your needs

Hi mozizo,

Thanks for your quick reply however I don’t think you’ve understood what I need to do?

I don’t need to set the locators as I know how to do that but all I what I want to do is once I’ve set up say an 8 bar loop, on the fly I want to change the loop to a shorter or longer amount of bars 1 bar at a time so as I said before initially I may want to work on improvising over say 8 bars but then want to break it down and work only on the first 7 bars or 6 etc or on the fly work on bars 5 to 8!

I want to be able to change the locator positions without touching my mouse!

Does it now make more sense what I need to achieve?

Kind regards

James Colah

hoo i see…
maybe this would help ,(not sure if im sure what you meant )) )
try Shift+D and enter a number to change locators range duration
(in the transport bar there is “locators range duration” view,if not shown reveal it or it will pop up in little floating box)

Sorry mozizo that does not work for me either!

All that does is change the amount of bars from whatever the left locator is set at. It’s also a huge amount of key presses.

I simply want to set a loop range and then use two shortcut keys to change the loop range forward or backwards by one bar at a time without using my mouse!

mmm… u need to move the all loop?
there are commands for that “loop range left”( and right)(need to assign keys on the key command window)( it will move the loop by the snap type(bars,beat etc…)
as far as i know there is no key command to move left/right locator (without entering value), if thats your goal

Set up a Key Command for “Set Left Locator” and “Set Right Locator”

Then press up or down on your computer keyboard to go up a bar or down a bar once you have the Key Commands engaged.

Try this, and adjust for your needs.

If you don’t mind setting up some cycle markers ahead of time, there is an option in the cycle marker window:

Setting cycle markers is very easy with either command ‘Insert Cycle Marker’. Note if you have the marker window open when you hit this command, it will cue renaming. if the window is closed, it will ignore renaming.

There are actually commands specifically for inserting and renaming as well oddly enough in a different part of the key commands list.
‘Insert and name cycle marker’




Now by default, Insert Cycle Marker, inserts it to where the locators are currently position. but you can create macros to get around this:
Select the regions you want to loop, execute macro command containing:
-Locators to selection
-insert cycle marker
-Go to left locator


Once these are setup, you can have hotkeys to navigate your cycle markers on the fly, and with the above option selected, the locators will follow your cycle marker navigation.

:ugeek:

Thank you for all your suggestions but nothing is working for me. :cry:

Can I simply create a shortcut for left and right locator positions instead of using my mouse scroll wheel?

Whilst I’m playing my keyboard with my right hand I want to simply change the range of the loop cycle by 1 bar at a time either forward or backwards using for example the back and forwards arrow on my computer keyboard!

And to Steve, I’ve searched everywhere for the key command ‘move loop 4 bars’ but it’s not in my list and I use the latest version of Cubase 10 Pro?

Many thanks again for your help.

Kind regards

James Colah

I think steve suggested that you program a macro of your own . His macro" move loop 4 bars" is just shown in order to show you how it could be done!

It’s not a key command, it’s a macro you build yourself. The macro editor is the pane at the bottom of the Key Commands dialog. It works by adding commands from the upper pane to build a sequence of commands to create a customized function.

posted while Elien was writing…

Many thanks for that information Steve and Elien - I’ll look into it.

Kind regards

James Colah