Why do keyboard shortcuts suck so much?

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ejanuska
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26 Jul 2020

Besides the lack of keyboard shortcuts for entering Comp, Slice and Pitch edit modes, there is another glaring omission.

No keyboard shortcut to arm recording on a track.

Hopefully I'm wrong and I just couldn't find it in the manual.

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pushedbutton
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26 Jul 2020

every key has a shortcut, there's only so many buttons you can put a shortcut on.
@pushedbutton on twitter, add me, send me a message, but don't try to sell me stuff cos I'm skint.
Using Reason since version 3 and still never finished a song.

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guitfnky
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26 Jul 2020

pushedbutton wrote:
26 Jul 2020
every key has a shortcut, there's only so many buttons you can put a shortcut on.
pretty sure that’s not true, but even if it was, the same key can/should be able to do different things depending on what you’re working on. if there was a shortcut (let’s say Alt+P) to enter pitch edit mode, you wouldn’t need that shortcut available while you’ve got a MIDI track selected, so Alt-P could be used for something else.

putting that in the perspective of the entire DAW, there’s the opportunity for FAR more shortcuts than just the keys you see on the keyboard. other DAWs take great advantage of this.

but even setting that aside, simply giving us the ability to customize our own shortcuts would help immensely.
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Djstarski
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26 Jul 2020

guitfnky wrote:
26 Jul 2020
pushedbutton wrote:
26 Jul 2020
every key has a shortcut, there's only so many buttons you can put a shortcut on.
pretty sure that’s not true, but even if it was, the same key can/should be able to do different things depending on what you’re working on. if there was a shortcut (let’s say Alt+P) to enter pitch edit mode, you wouldn’t need that shortcut available while you’ve got a MIDI track selected, so Alt-P could be used for something else.

putting that in the perspective of the entire DAW, there’s the opportunity for FAR more shortcuts than just the keys you see on the keyboard. other DAWs take great advantage of this.

but even setting that aside, simply giving us the ability to customize our own shortcuts would help immensely.
This would be a blessing for control surfaces also .

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pushedbutton
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26 Jul 2020

https://a.phcdn.se/Reason11/Manuals/Rea ... mmands.pdf
I think they do quite a good job with key commands.
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Using Reason since version 3 and still never finished a song.

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TheDragonborg
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26 Jul 2020

Only shortcuts that I really use are cut, copy, and paste.

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DaveyG
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26 Jul 2020

If only someone, somewhere had ever thought of user-assignable shortcuts. Oh wait. They did. In almost everything except Reason!

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guitfnky
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26 Jul 2020

pushedbutton wrote:
26 Jul 2020
https://a.phcdn.se/Reason11/Manuals/Rea ... mmands.pdf
I think they do quite a good job with key commands.
yep, I looked it up. obviously there’s still lots of room for improvement, or people wouldn’t be complaining.

I’ve barely used it so far, but Reaper doesn’t just let you customize your own key commands, it also lets you create custom actions that combine multiple actions into a single key command. not saying Reason necessarily needs to go that far, but it definitely could be a lot better in the shortcuts department, if they wanted it to be.
I write good music for good people

https://slowrobot.bandcamp.com/

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Creativemind
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26 Jul 2020

Yeah I made a thread last year on the amount of shortcuts missing like one's to select all clips on a track, move clips up and down a track, slice by song position pointer, put the end marker a certain distance after the last clip etc
:reason:

Reason Studio's 11.3 / Cockos Reaper 6.82 / Cakewalk By Bandlab / Orion 8.6
http://soundcloud.com/creativemind75/iv ... soul-mix-3

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teddymcw
Posts: 432
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28 Jul 2020

What is the new R11 shortcut for going up / down octave in sequencer? I thought that was a new feature but can’t find it in manual.

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aeox
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28 Jul 2020

teddymcw wrote:
28 Jul 2020
What is the new R11 shortcut for going up / down octave in sequencer? I thought that was a new feature but can’t find it in manual.
Control + Shift + Arrow up/down

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teddymcw
Posts: 432
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28 Jul 2020

aeox wrote:
28 Jul 2020
teddymcw wrote:
28 Jul 2020
What is the new R11 shortcut for going up / down octave in sequencer? I thought that was a new feature but can’t find it in manual.
Control + Shift + Arrow up/down
TY! Still looking forward to hearing some of your deepmind music later on btw :)

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aeox
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28 Jul 2020

teddymcw wrote:
28 Jul 2020
aeox wrote:
28 Jul 2020


Control + Shift + Arrow up/down
TY! Still looking forward to hearing some of your deepmind music later on btw :)
Everything made with deepmind12 only??

Challenge accepted!

Really.. this could take some time.

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guitfnky
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28 Jul 2020

aeox wrote:
28 Jul 2020
teddymcw wrote:
28 Jul 2020


TY! Still looking forward to hearing some of your deepmind music later on btw :)
Everything made with deepmind12 only??

Challenge accepted!

Really.. this could take some time.
oooh, I got a Deepmind 6 a couple of months ago—such an amazing piece of gear. now I just need to learn how to use it. 😂

I’ll keep an eye out for your project. would love to hear how it turns out.
I write good music for good people

https://slowrobot.bandcamp.com/

Spaceship
Posts: 54
Joined: 11 May 2019

28 Jul 2020

Reason’s lack of keyboard shortcuts is pathetic and embarrassing.

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pushedbutton
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03 Aug 2020

Spaceship wrote:
28 Jul 2020
Reason’s lack of keyboard shortcuts is pathetic and embarrassing.
Try to rephrase that in a constructive way.
For example, rather than saying 'That's the dumbest, most pointless post I've seen all day.' I might choose to say something like 'Hey, I'm glad you're invested in this topic, how do you think the situation could be improved without compromising the strong set of shortcuts and key commands that we already use?'
It's very easy to tear things down but building things up takes some effort.
There is no 'lack of keyboard shortcuts', even the numpad has unique functions.
It's not like they don't exist, i think some would like them changing to another function.
@pushedbutton on twitter, add me, send me a message, but don't try to sell me stuff cos I'm skint.
Using Reason since version 3 and still never finished a song.

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pushedbutton
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11 Nov 2020

@pushedbutton on twitter, add me, send me a message, but don't try to sell me stuff cos I'm skint.
Using Reason since version 3 and still never finished a song.

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motuscott
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Location: Contest Weiner

11 Nov 2020

I really like that presenter, she did the Chordline vid as well I thinks
Who’s using the royal plural now baby? 🧂

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Creativemind
Posts: 4875
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Location: Stoke-On-Trent, England, UK

12 Nov 2020

guitfnky wrote:
26 Jul 2020
pushedbutton wrote:
26 Jul 2020
every key has a shortcut, there's only so many buttons you can put a shortcut on.
pretty sure that’s not true, but even if it was, the same key can/should be able to do different things depending on what you’re working on. if there was a shortcut (let’s say Alt+P) to enter pitch edit mode, you wouldn’t need that shortcut available while you’ve got a MIDI track selected, so Alt-P could be used for something else.

putting that in the perspective of the entire DAW, there’s the opportunity for FAR more shortcuts than just the keys you see on the keyboard. other DAWs take great advantage of this.

but even setting that aside, simply giving us the ability to customize our own shortcuts would help immensely.
Yeah Macros is it called, to assign your own shortcut key commands to existing ones? first one I'd change is I'd make quantize - ctrl q.

I mentioned (on my thread) I wanted a shortcut to move a clip up / down a track by using ctrl up / down arrows (so you don't accidently move the clip horizontally if you have a small snap value selected) and ctrl arrows would tie in with the moving or nudging clips horizontally but it was pointed out that you can stop it moving horizontally by accident if you hit ctrl while moving the clip to another track manually with the mouse.
Last edited by Creativemind on 12 Nov 2020, edited 3 times in total.
:reason:

Reason Studio's 11.3 / Cockos Reaper 6.82 / Cakewalk By Bandlab / Orion 8.6
http://soundcloud.com/creativemind75/iv ... soul-mix-3

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Creativemind
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Location: Stoke-On-Trent, England, UK

12 Nov 2020

motuscott wrote:
11 Nov 2020
I really like that presenter, she did the Chordline vid as well I thinks
Yeah she mentions ctrl or command E for the Eraser tool, does anybody actually use that? I have done in the past but hardly ever. I just click a note or clip and hit backspace or the delete key. It seems it just isn't really needed that Erase tool.
:reason:

Reason Studio's 11.3 / Cockos Reaper 6.82 / Cakewalk By Bandlab / Orion 8.6
http://soundcloud.com/creativemind75/iv ... soul-mix-3

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motuscott
Posts: 3420
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Location: Contest Weiner

12 Nov 2020

I have never used the eraser tool. I've also never shaved my scrotum, doesn't mean it shouldn't be an option for those who want to.
Who’s using the royal plural now baby? 🧂

idliketoremainanon
Posts: 10
Joined: 31 Aug 2019

04 Dec 2020

They don't even need to add new shortcuts. Just by letting you change them and add commands to things that don't have them, I would give them more money. I have not used many other DAWs but Logic is great at shortcuts. I find it very useful to let you move the playhead with the keyboard and then execute actions on wherever the playhead is, like splitting, moving selected clips to that position, and changing the length of selected events/clips starting from or ending in that position.

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zoidkirb
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04 Dec 2020

If we could customise shortcuts the first thing I'd do is swap Ctrl-K (quantize, something I use multiple times per session) with K (clutter/de-clutter cables: something I might do once during a session)
Or even better, change it straight up to something obvious like Q.

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