Zoom tip - macOS's zoom w/ DP's zoom (very fast keystrokes)

[Steve Steele]

[EDIT: 9/15 5:30 CST. I had to replace the original YouTube video because of a mistake I made. The new link is below. Thanks]

I don't know if this has ever been mentioned, so I'll mention it here. (Didn't see it in a search).

<YouTube link at bottom>

Besides DP's built in zoom features, there are some additional ways to zoom that some might find help, (especially with DP's very small icons in the Sequencer and MIDI windows). IMO, it augments DP's zoom and with keystrokes that enable you to do very sophisticated zooming.

1) In the Accessibility pane make sure that "Use keyboard Shortcuts to zoom" is checked.
Also, if the "Zoom follows the keyboard focus" box is checked, the screen will zoom so that your mouse cursor ends up in the middle of the screen, (nice feature)! There are also two types of zoom - fullscreen and picture-in-picture.

2) Go to the Keyboard pane, and look in the Accessibility section. Check Zoom and click the down-triangle to see the zoom types and their shortcuts.

Turn zoom on and off is option-oommand-8
Turn image smoothing on or off is option-command-\
Zoom out is option-command -
Zoom in is option-command +

The difference between DP's zoom and macOS' zoom is the former zooms the active cell, the former the entire window. When "Zoom the follows keyboard focus" in checked macOS will zoom so that your cursor is centered. This is great. When "Smooth images" is checked, and you're zoomed in so much that icons are blurry, the "Toggle smooth images" (option-command-\) turned the anti-aliased screen into aliased. However, because you're at 100% zoom the icons are as 100% crisp!

Example 1: After enabling the above, go into the sequence window and put your cursor over a busy MIDI track (with a lot of velocity on notes, etc..). Hit option-command-8 to zoom to cursor, the hit option-command-\ to see crisp icons.

Example 2: I use lines mode (shift-option-command-L). But if you use points mode (shift-option-command-p), and you have a few CC points to edit, first in Accessibility make sure Zoom mode is set to Picture-in-picture. Then with your cursor over the area you want to edit quickly hit option-command-8, the while leaving option-command down hit the \ key. Takes two quick keystrokes, and you'll have quickly zoomed in two your points, while still being able to see the information bar. You can also let go of the modifier keys and make your edit. You can also hold down command to disable grid editing! When done, quickly hold down option and command, then tab \ and 8 and you'll be back to normal.

In conjunction with DP's zoom setting and macOS' zoom features you can move around the screen rapidly.

Enjoy!

Steve Steele

[wvandyck]

Many thanks for this.

I'm constantly using the Control key-trackpad swipe to see details in DP. These additional commands - which I've noticed but never explored - will assist my aging eyes.

[Steve Steele]

If anyone would like a detailed tutorial, let me know and I'll put something together.

Hope this helps

Steve Steele
stevesteele.com (I live in the Houston area. The hurricane hit us hard and my website might be done. My email address works though. It's email@myname.com.

[Steve Steele]

Many thanks for this.

I'm constantly using the Control key-trackpad swipe to see details in DP. These additional commands - which I've noticed but never explored - will assist my aging eyes.

Cool DP timeline. I've used DP since v1.7. I missed DP5 and DP6 due to a long project on DP4. DP8 and DP9 have been the best, IMO. Got a lot done with DP4 though.

In 1993 it was a tough call between Performer, Vision, Cubase and Logic. Performer and Vision were the front runners, Cubase and Logic were interesting, but I ended up choosing Performer and DP. Chunks won me over. Good thing as Vision inexplicably went kaput thanks to Gibson.

[stubbsonic]

I've known that those accessibility features exist in Mac's OS, but it is nice to see them used where they are most helpful in DP-- specifically those controller editors!!

Great tip!!

[mikehalloran]

Cool tip, Steve!

[bayswater]

I set up my iMac with this some time ago to overcome the combination of high resolution (small images), DP's tiny fonts and my aging eyes. It works OK. I had hoped to be able to use the PIP option, which would be ideal, but I find the window a bit too small. Maybe there is a way, e.g. with a Terminal command or 3rd party utility, to make it larger.

[wvandyck]

Cool DP timeline. I've used DP since v1.7. I missed DP5 and DP6 due to a long project on DP4. DP8 and DP9 have been the best, IMO. Got a lot done with DP4 though.

In 1993 it was a tough call between Performer, Vision, Cubase and Logic. Performer and Vision were the front runners, Cubase and Logic were interesting, but I ended up choosing Performer and DP. Chunks won me over. Good thing as Vision inexplicably went kaput thanks to Gibson.

I started with DP4.5 then fell off the grid around v6 but kept up-to-date with all of the upgrades. At this time, DP 9.5 is commanding my attention and whatever interest I had in other DAW is rapidly waning.

After a short time with MasterTracks Pro, I started using Cubase VST. It was the GUI of Unisyn and the MTP ll that grabbed my attention to MOTU. The back covers of various recording/music production magazines just intensified my interest, with the DP Timeline being a reason to pull them all together into a single document.

Again, thanks for your zoom video, and looking forward to your the Top Ten Features of DP video.

[Steve Steele]

I've made a slight change to my use of the zoom feature.

In the Accessability pane after you check "Use keyboard shortcuts to zoom", if you switch Zoom Style to Picture-in-picture, then click on More Options... then select "Enable temporary zoom" all you have to do to enable a temporary zoom is to hold down control-option. That's it!

You'll get the PIP zoom box. Even better, below the Enable temp zoom check box is a dialog box that allows you to resize the zoom box area.

Very nifty! Great for tiny sized edits in any application.

Sorry if this is an old trick for some of you. I've always used keystrokes but haven't spent much time looking at Accessibility features. I discovered a few more keystrokes that I didn't know about. Maybe enough to make a Top 10 macOS keystrokes video. (Yes, I know I'm obsessed with making videos).

Enjoy.