What are your custom key commands / shortcuts?

[joeyluck]

I'm curious what other users have set as their custom shortcuts. What do you use most often?

On macOS this is easy to do under System Preferences > Keyboard > Shortcuts > App Shortcuts. There might be something similar on Windows?

You can define shortcuts for menu items. You can repurpose key commands by reassigning a shortcut. For instance, if you wanted to use Command+T for something other than 'Create Audio Track' as it's predefined, you can assign a different key command to 'Create Audio Track' to free up Command+T.

Here is what I use. I'm always looking for ways to improve my workflow, so I'm curious what others use most often. Or even if you target the same items, I'm curious what you have defined as the key command.

Reason_shortcuts.png (133.45 KiB) Viewed 1575 times

Reset Device and Combine are probably what I use the most.

I always forget about my Add Label shortcut... I still wish there was an option for all clips to just have default labels, so all we would have to do is double-click to edit.

Maybe in lieu of getting a custom shortcut feature inside Reason, maybe this will inspire them for other shortcuts to add. In my opinion, Command+R is a solid choice for 'Reset Device', unless there's something I'm overlooking...but I haven't run into issues.

[huggermugger]

I use the control key as much as I can for custom key commands, as it's not used much in standard shortcuts, and it's easy to remember and easy to find with my little finger . The one I use most often, by far, is Reset Device.

It's too bad Apple's shortcut utility is limited to items in menus though.

[joeyluck]

Hide/Show Transport is a good one! I don't do that often probably because I don't have a shortcut for it. And good suggestion about the control key.

I used to have different application zoom levels applied to number keys and +/- for favorite zoom levels, but didn't really use it much because of it being an application wide zoom.

[StephenHutchinson]

These are mine:

Reason 12 Keyboard Shortcuts.jpg (89.18 KiB) Viewed 1541 times

One thing I learned is that you can set up a generic shortcut for any Instrument or Effect patch... In the set above you'll see "Save Algoritm Patch As..." and the shortcut is ^K (Control+K). If I'm working on a different instrument for awhile making / saving patches, I just go into the Keyboard Shortcuts and change out the "Save XXXX Patch As..." to whatever I'm working on.

[MuttReason]

I tried going down this road and then came across the Elgato StreamDeck (the mk2 version to be precise). Game changer for how I use Reason because literally any keyboard shortcut in the Reason manual can be programmed to be triggered with a button on the StreamDeck, and it’s also super easy to add an icon (there are thousands of these available) to that button. I have a Reason template and a (separate) Live template (each template autoloads when the respective program starts up) and I keep the StreamDeck just to the left of my computer keyboard so it feels like an extension of the keyboard itself (mouse right hand, StreamDeck left hand, keyboard in the middle). Big workflow boost.

[joeyluck]

These are mine:



Reason 12 Keyboard Shortcuts.jpg


One thing I learned is that you can set up a generic shortcut for any Instrument or Effect patch... In the set above you'll see "Save Algoritm Patch As..." and the shortcut is ^K (Control+K). If I'm working on a different instrument for awhile making / saving patches, I just go into the Keyboard Shortcuts and change out the "Save XXXX Patch As..." to whatever I'm working on.

That's a good one too. Makes me wish the menu item was generic like, "Save Device Patch As..." so I wouldn't have to create a shortcut for every device. That's a shortcut that I wish Reason would have built-in, so that it worked for every device.

I had tried using shortcuts before for creating the devices in the rack, which is just the device name. But of course I have too many goto devices and when the browser was updated with the as-you-type search, that became a faster way for me to load devices.

[joeyluck]

I tried going down this road and then came across the Elgato StreamDeck (the mk2 version to be precise). Game changer for how I use Reason because literally any keyboard shortcut in the Reason manual can be programmed to be triggered with a button on the StreamDeck, and it’s also super easy to add an icon (there are thousands of these available) to that button. I have a Reason template and a (separate) Live template (each template autoloads when the respective program starts up) and I keep the StreamDeck just to the left of my computer keyboard so it feels like an extension of the keyboard itself (mouse right hand, StreamDeck left hand, keyboard in the middle). Big workflow boost.

Yeah I had checked out the StreamDeck as well. I was wanting to use the iPad one, but they charge a subscription rather than a one-time payment for the app, so I never did try it. The hardware might be cool to use.

[Chi-Individual]

Why did I not even think of doing this until this post. Thank you for this.

[crimsonwarlock]

I tried going down this road and then came across the Elgato StreamDeck (the mk2 version to be precise). Game changer for how I use Reason because literally any keyboard shortcut in the Reason manual can be programmed to be triggered with a button on the StreamDeck, and it’s also super easy to add an icon (there are thousands of these available) to that button. I have a Reason template and a (separate) Live template (each template autoloads when the respective program starts up) and I keep the StreamDeck just to the left of my computer keyboard so it feels like an extension of the keyboard itself (mouse right hand, StreamDeck left hand, keyboard in the middle). Big workflow boost.

I use Touch Portal and uploaded my template here: viewtopic.php?f=12&t=7527141&p=598163

[dioxide]

Currently I only have two:

• Cmd-Shift R: Remote Override Edit Mode
• Cmd 0: Show Navigators

In the past I've had shortcuts for other things like Combine. Typically if I'm doing a lot of the same task I might create a shortcut, but these are the only ones that I use regularly. There are some good ideas in this thread though.

[dioxide]

Has anyone here tried Bome MIDI translator? There are some keyboard shortcuts that I wish were mappable to MIDI controllers (Rack, Mixer and Seq shortcuts) and I think Bome would allow this. I might have a go at the the demo.
https://www.bome.com/products/miditranslator

[dioxide]

I see you can set key commands to create new devices (shown here Receive Notes Player) and set device or clip colours. Very useful.

[MuttReason]

I tried going down this road and then came across the Elgato StreamDeck (the mk2 version to be precise). Game changer for how I use Reason because literally any keyboard shortcut in the Reason manual can be programmed to be triggered with a button on the StreamDeck, and it’s also super easy to add an icon (there are thousands of these available) to that button. I have a Reason template and a (separate) Live template (each template autoloads when the respective program starts up) and I keep the StreamDeck just to the left of my computer keyboard so it feels like an extension of the keyboard itself (mouse right hand, StreamDeck left hand, keyboard in the middle). Big workflow boost.

Yeah I had checked out the StreamDeck as well. I was wanting to use the iPad one, but they charge a subscription rather than a one-time payment for the app, so I never did try it. The hardware might be cool to use.

It’s a surprisingly well-made bit of kit. More robust than I expected. And the programming app is great, simple but does a lot. Won’t be without it now, it makes life a lot simpler.

[joeyluck]

Yeah I had checked out the StreamDeck as well. I was wanting to use the iPad one, but they charge a subscription rather than a one-time payment for the app, so I never did try it. The hardware might be cool to use.

It’s a surprisingly well-made bit of kit. More robust than I expected. And the programming app is great, simple but does a lot. Won’t be without it now, it makes life a lot simpler.

Do you still have to create custom shortcuts first for items where they aren't defined by an app to then target them? Or can you do that also from the Elgato software? For instance, Reset Device.

[MuttReason]

It’s a surprisingly well-made bit of kit. More robust than I expected. And the programming app is great, simple but does a lot. Won’t be without it now, it makes life a lot simpler.

Do you still have to create custom shortcuts first for items where they aren't defined by an app to then target them? Or can you do that also from the Elgato software? For instance, Reset Device.

No, way simpler than that. Go to Elgato app, highlight button you want to bind key combo to, hit key combo on computer keyboard, that’s it. Then drag and drop icon onto button which immediately appears on the StreamDeck itself. Piece of cake. I built entire 16 key set of bindings for Reason in about 10 mins flat and most of that time was choosing the icons!

[joeyluck]

Do you still have to create custom shortcuts first for items where they aren't defined by an app to then target them? Or can you do that also from the Elgato software? For instance, Reset Device.

No, way simpler than that. Go to Elgato app, highlight button you want to bind key combo to, hit key combo on computer keyboard, that’s it. Then drag and drop icon onto button which immediately appears on the StreamDeck itself. Piece of cake. I built entire 16 key set of bindings for Reason in about 10 mins flat and most of that time was choosing the icons!

Oh what I mean is Reset Device doesn't exist as a shortcut in Reason, so I had to create a shortcut for it on macOS. So I'd still have to do that before I could assign it to a button, right?

[npinero1]

Do you still have to create custom shortcuts first for items where they aren't defined by an app to then target them? Or can you do that also from the Elgato software? For instance, Reset Device.

No, way simpler than that. Go to Elgato app, highlight button you want to bind key combo to, hit key combo on computer keyboard, that’s it. Then drag and drop icon onto button which immediately appears on the StreamDeck itself. Piece of cake. I built entire 16 key set of bindings for Reason in about 10 mins flat and most of that time was choosing the icons!

OOOH, Can you share the Streamdeck profile? I have the mini but plan on getting the XL soon.

[huggermugger]

Oh what I mean is Reset Device doesn't exist as a shortcut in Reason, so I had to create a shortcut for it on macOS.

It's an inexplicable omission from Reason's key commands. No wonder there are so many requests for user-defined shortcuts to be added.

[MuttReason]

No, way simpler than that. Go to Elgato app, highlight button you want to bind key combo to, hit key combo on computer keyboard, that’s it. Then drag and drop icon onto button which immediately appears on the StreamDeck itself. Piece of cake. I built entire 16 key set of bindings for Reason in about 10 mins flat and most of that time was choosing the icons!

OOOH, Can you share the Streamdeck profile? I have the mini but plan on getting the XL soon.

Sure can do it if there’s a way to post it here somewhere or will use Dropbox etc. This is for the 16 key StreamDeck mk2 not the Mini or the XL BTW so may not map exactly. Also fair warning, I’ve chosen the 16 bindings that work *for me* with a button order and icon selection that works *for me* so TBH you may find it faster to roll your own to suit your own needs. One of the great things about the StreamDeck is it is SO fast to program, I was seriously surprised in a good way at how quickly I knocked up a Reason key binding set and a separate Ableton Live key binding set. Really easy. Happy to share otherwise though.

[MuttReason]

No, way simpler than that. Go to Elgato app, highlight button you want to bind key combo to, hit key combo on computer keyboard, that’s it. Then drag and drop icon onto button which immediately appears on the StreamDeck itself. Piece of cake. I built entire 16 key set of bindings for Reason in about 10 mins flat and most of that time was choosing the icons!

Oh what I mean is Reset Device doesn't exist as a shortcut in Reason, so I had to create a shortcut for it on macOS. So I'd still have to do that before I could assign it to a button, right?

Weird there’s no shortcut for this given how often it’s used, got to say. But yes, basically create the shortcut on Mac OS then whatever key combo you’ve used in Mac OS to trigger that action ( ie Reason device/right click mouse/device reset) you then tap in the same computer keyboard combo into the StreamDeck, drag and drop an icon onto the StreamDeck button from the (massive) icon library and that’s it. The StreamDeck essentially emulates anything you can do on a computer keyboard but with a single button press rather than a key combo on the keyboard itself and with a little icon image on the button to remind you what it is. You can also create your own icons (basically they’re just small jpegs you import into the Elgato app) so lots of possibilities.

I should also add here that the StreamDeck can also do a bunch of other stuff beyond computer keyboard bindings including sending MIDI data. It can even receive MIDI data also, in fact there’s a third party program for it (pretty inexpensive) that turns the StreamDeck into an Ableton Live controller with real-time levels feedback on track meters projected onto the StreamDeck keys. Overkill for my needs but pretty impressive all the same.

Overall I’ve found this little box covers a LOT of the same ground I’d been looking for in a new MIDI control surface…. Everything from transport controls to switching between views (mixer/rack/seq) to zoom controls (horizontal and vertical) for the sequencer lanes (always a bit of a clunky key combo IME) and a bunch of other stuff besides (including a personal favourite, bringing up the big meter input level meter and tuner, great when tracking and I’ve got one hand on my bass… hit button with big microphone icon on it, sorted).

[bossa]

What helps me a lot is that I can switch between sequencer, rack and main mixer with the left hand by control - 1, control - 2 and control - 3.

[bossa]

It's too bad Apple's shortcut utility is limited to items in menus though.

Yes, absolutely, that also find very, very unfortunate that you can not use all the commands with their own shortcuts.

[xbitz]

you're genius



basically a new Reason

[huggermugger]

you're genius

basically a new Reason

But those functions already have shortcuts, no? Or maybe you can't use or don't like F-keys?

[xbitz]

^^^ on mac those are double ones fn(bottom left)+f5 ... by default so practically useless ones with one hand