Pro Tools keyboard shortcuts - YMMV

[C Heat]

Who actually goes out of their way to RTFM and learn other shortcuts if / when needed?

Or do most mainly use the (keyboard) Command Focus shortcuts?

[Protools Guy]

I have, but I still need to O(pen)TFM and look up a few here and there.

My problem is that I procrastinate and don't do it right then and there, and then completely forget until the next time I want to use that shortcut!

[hollywitya]

str8 tutt

[C Heat]

There's a LOT key commands to remember.

I figured most would probably like to know them all, but generally only find the ones they need to use the most for fast workflow...

[Makinithappen]

Originally Posted by C Heat

There's a LOT key commands to remember.

I figured most would probably like to know them all, but generally only find the ones they need to use the most for fast workflow...

I think I know almost all of them at this point. It has made me 200% faster at the very least. I went through the manuel and made my self use every one, every day (I work 10-12 hours a day on ProTools) until it was 2nd nature.

[Stiff]

Whenever I start using a feature more than I have before in a session I look up the keyboard shortcut and focus on using that every time I use the feature. It helps the workflow soo much to know them, you'll work 2x or 3x faster at least.

[s.d.finley]

Good luck fellas, stupid digi keeps changing the keyboard shortcuts!!

[Improv]

Digi has the most consistent keyboard shortuct system out there, bar none. Any changes they make only make it more consistent if you think about the commands globally.

My complaint is inconsistency between Mac and PC versions, as I straddle them between work and home. The remapping of command modifiers seems straightforward at first. The problem is I don't think "command, control, option" when I'm doing shortcuts at work (Mac), I just chord it by feel. When I have to map the command key to the control key in my brain at home, it severly messes up my flow. And it's a completely unnecessary remapping because, spatially speaking, PC key modifiers could map out to the Mac ones much more naturally. It's like they took their physical location on the Mac and rotated them all to the right for the PC. WHY?! Keep ctrl where it is! ******s! And if you're gonna be that inconsistent, why keep Shift the same?

Needless to say, I find shortcuts vital to my workflow.... I learn as many as I can (ctrl(start)+opt(alt)+cmd(ctrl)+w is my newest addition... hides/shows floating windows in 7.3... awesome for autotuning tracks! And though the mac to (PC) translation on that one spells out the complexity of the remapping... it ironically happens to be the easiest cross-platform shortcut in the program)

For me, the one-shot (even if chorded) shortcuts to damn near every functional edit are a large part of why you choose Pro Tools over other DAWs

Oh yeah, get a Kensington trackball with dedicated buttons and go macro-nuts on that. You'll be amazed, once you visceralize all these shortcut potentials, how much more you can focus on the music instead. It's worth it.

[C Heat]

That ^ would be frustrating Improv.

Couldn't you just use a Mac keyboard on the PC?

[drBill]

Originally Posted by Improv

Digi has the most consistent keyboard shortuct system out there, bar none.

I agree 1000%!!!!!!!! DP for instance is completely aggrivating. The seem to feel the need to re-invent the wheel about every 3 years or so. Arrrgghhhhhh!

Being mainly a PT user, and then adding in DP's shifting shortcut mentality....I'm a dyslexic mess.

[Improv]

Originally Posted by C Heat

That ^ would be frustrating Improv.

Couldn't you just use a Mac keyboard on the PC?

Hmmmmmmmmmm.....

No, unfortunately... because, like I said, the ctrl key is in the same place on both systems, it just serves a different function (for no explicable reason) in PT. It's not even as if the modifiers for either platform are different to more accurately mimic their particular OS's keyboard modifiers and shortcuts... they don't on either! PT is a rebel in that regard on OSX and XP... ******s, I tell ya!

I figure it would be better for me and my brain for me to get fluent on both so I can go anywhere and be anyone's PT bitch.