Steinberg Cubase SX/SL 3 Operation Manual
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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, arranged in a hierarchical way similar to that of the Windows Explorer and Mac OS Finder. The categories are represented by a number of folders, each containing various menu items and functions. When you open a category folder by clicking the plus-sign beside it, the items and functions it contains are displayed with the currently assigned key commands.
CUBASE SX/SL34 – 782 Key commands 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 wish to assign a key command. Already assigned key commands are shown in the Keys column as well as in the Keys section in the top right corner. 5.Alternatively, you can use the search function in the dialog to find the desired item. For a description of how to use the search function, see page 784. 6.When you have found and selected the desired item, click in the “Type in Key” field and enter a new key command. You can choose between any single key or a combination of one or several keys (Command, Option (Mac), Ctrl, Alt (Win), Shift) plus any key. Just press the keys you want to use. If a selected item or function has a key com- mand assigned already, it is displayed here......and here.
CUBASE SX/SLKey commands 34 – 783 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 assigned to another function, you will get a prompt asking if you want to reassign the command to the new function instead, or cancel the operation. Note that you can have several different key commands for the same function. So adding a key command to a function that already has an- other key command will not replace the key command previously de- fined for the function. If you wish to remove an assigned key command, please see page 784. 9.Click OK to exit the dialog.
CUBASE SX/SL34 – 784 Key commands 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 related commands you could type “Quantize”, “Quant”, etc. 2.Click the Search button (the magnifying glass icon). The search is conducted and the first matching command is selected and displayed in the commands list below. The keys column and the keys list show the assigned key commands, if any. 3.To search for more commands containing the word(s) you entered, just press the Search button again. 4.When you’re done, click OK to close the dialog. Removing a key command To remove a key command, proceed as follows: 1.If the key commands dialog isn’t already open, pull down the File menu and select “Key Commands…”. 2.Use the list of categories and commands to select the item or function for which you wish to remove a key command. The key command for the item is shown in the Keys list and the Keys column. 3.Select the key command in the Keys list and click the Remove button (the trash icon). You will get a prompt asking if you want to remove the key command or cancel the operation. 4.Click OK to close the dialog.
CUBASE SX/SLKey commands 34 – 785 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 Hide Macros) again. 2.Click New Macro. A new, unnamed macro appears in the Macros list. Name it by typing the desired name. You can rename a macro at any time by clicking it in the list and typing a new name. 3.Make sure the macro is selected, and then use the Categories and Commands in the upper half of the dialog to select the first command you want to include in the macro. 4.Click Add Command. The selected command appears in the list of Commands in the Macros section. 5.Repeat the procedure to add more commands to the macro. Note that commands are added after the currently selected command in the list. This allows you to insert commands “in the middle” of an existing macro. A macro with three commands. •To remove a command from the macro, select it in the Macros list and click Delete.
CUBASE SX/SL34 – 786 Key commands •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 key commands settings As previously mentioned, any changes made to the key commands (and macros) are automatically stored as a Cubase SX/SL preference. It is however also possible to store key commands settings separately. In this way, you can store any number of different key command set- tings as presets for instant recall. Proceed as follows: 1.Set up the key commands and macros to your liking. When setting up key commands, remember to click “Assign” to make the changes. 2.Click the Save button (the disk icon) by the Presets pop-up menu. A dialog appears, allowing you to type in a name for the preset. 3.Click OK to save the preset. Your saved key commands settings will now be available in the Preset pop-up menu for your future projects.
CUBASE SX/SLKey commands 34 – 787 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 described above! 1.Open the Key Commands dialog from the File menu. 2.Select the saved key commands preset you wish to open from the Presets pop-up. 3.Click OK to exit the Key Commands dialog and apply the saved preset settings. The loaded key commands settings now replace the current key command settings. Loading saved key commands settings from earlier versions of Cubase SX/SL If you have used a previous version of Cubase SX/SL, you may have saved key commands settings from it that you’d like to use in Cubase SX/SL 3.0. This is possible by using the Import function, which lets you load and apply either saved key commands or macros: 1.Open the Key Commands dialog from the File menu. 2.Click the “Import” button (the folder icon) to the right of the Presets pop-up menu. A standard browser dialog opens. The Import button
CUBASE SX/SL34 – 788 Key commands 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. 4.Navigate to the file you want to import and click “Open”. The file is imported. 5.Click OK to exit the Key Commands dialog and apply the imported settings. The settings in the loaded key commands- or macros file now replace the current settings. About the “Reset” and “Reset All” functions These two buttons in the Key Commands dialog will both restore the default settings. The following rules apply: •“Reset” restores the default key command setting for the function se- lected in the Commands list. •“Reset All” will restore the default key commands for all commands. Note that the “Reset All” operation will cause any changes made to the default key commands to be lost! If you want to be able to revert to these settings again, make sure to save them first! About the default key commands As mentioned before, there are numerous default key commands. For an overview of these, please refer to the Getting Started book where they are listed for your convenience.
CUBASE SX/SLKey commands 34 – 789 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 the File menu (on the Mac, this is located on the Cubase SX/SL menu) and select the Editing – Tool Modifiers page. 2.Select an option in the Categories list, and then locate the action for which you want to edit the modifier key. For example, the “Copy” action mentioned above resides in the category “Drag & Drop”. 3.Select the action in the Action list. 4.Hold down the desired modifier key(s) and click the Assign button. The current modifier key(s) for the action is replaced. If the modifier key(s) you pressed are already assigned to another tool, you will be asked whether you want to overwrite them. If you do, this will leave the other tool without any modifier key(s) assigned. 5.When you’re done, click OK to apply the changes and close the dialog.