Steinberg Cubase SX/SL 3 Operation Manual

CUBASE SX/SLKey commands 34 – 781
Setting up Key Commands
The following is a description of how you set up key commands and 
save them as presets for easy access.
Key commands settings are accessed and edited mainly in the Key 
Commands dialog, but there are also some settings that can be made 
in the Preferences dialog, and these are also addressed in this chapter.
Adding or modifying a key command
In the Key Commands dialog you will find all main menu items and a 
large number of other functions,...

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To add a key command, proceed as follows:
1.Pull down the File menu and select “Key Commands…”.
The Key Commands dialog appears.
2.Use the list in the Commands column to navigate to the desired cate-
gory.
3.Click the plus-sign to open the category folder and display the items 
contained in it.
Note that you can also click the “global” plus- and minus-signs in the top left corner to 
open and close all category folders at once.
4.In the list, select the item to which you...

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7.If the key command you entered is already assigned to another item or 
function, this is displayed below the “Type in Key” field. 
In the case that a key command already is assigned to another function, you can either 
ignore this and proceed to assign the key command to the new function instead, or you 
can select another key command.
8.Click the Assign button above the field.
The new key command appears in the Keys List.
If the key command you enter is already...

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Searching for key commands
If you want to know which key command is assigned to a certain func-
tion in the program, you can use the Search function in the Key Com-
mands dialog:
1.Click in the search text field at the top left of the dialog and type in the 
function for which you want to know the key command.
This is a standard word search function, so you should type the command as it is 
spelled in the program. Partial words are OK; to search for e.g. all quantize...

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Setting up macros
A macro is a combination of several functions or commands, to be 
performed in one go. For example, you could select all events on the 
selected audio track, remove DC offset, normalize the events and du-
plicate them, all with a single command.
Macros are set up in the Key Commands dialog as follows:
1.Click the Show Macros button.
The macro settings are shown in the lower part of the dialog. To hide these from view, 
click the button (now renamed to...

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•Similarly, to remove an entire macro, select it in the Macros list and 
click Delete.
After you’ve closed the Key Commands dialog, all macros you have 
created appear at the bottom of the Edit menu, available for instant 
selection.
You can also assign key commands to macros. All macros you have 
created appear in the upper section of the Key Commands dialog un-
der the Macros category – just select a macro and assign a key com-
mand as with any other function.
Saving...

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Loading saved key command settings
To load saved key command settings, proceed as follows:
• Note that this operation may replace existing key commands!
The key command settings you load will replace the current key command settings for 
the same functions (if any). If you have macros of the same name as those stored in the 
preset you load, these will be replaced too.
If you want to be able to revert to your current settings again, make sure to save them 
first, as...

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3.In the browser dialog, use the “Files of type:” pop-up to specify if you 
want to import a Key Commands File (Windows file extension “.key”) 
or a Macro Commands File (extension “.mac”).
In Cubase SX/SL 3.0, Key Commands files include any macro settings and use the 
Windows extension “.xml”. So after you have imported an older file, you might want to 
save it as a preset (as described on page 786) to be able to access it from the Presets 
pop-up menu in the future....

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Setting up tool modifier keys
A tool modifier key is a key you can press to get an alternate function 
when using a tool. For example, clicking and dragging and event with 
the Arrow tool normally moves it – holding down a modifier key (by 
default [Alt]/[Option]) will copy it instead.
The default tool modifier keys are listed in the Getting Started book, 
but you can customize them if needed. This is done in the Preferences 
dialog:
1.Open the Preferences dialog from...

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