Keyboard Maestro Question

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Shooshie
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Re: Keyboard Maestro Question

Post by Shooshie »

You know, I thought Apple was going to give us something useful with the "Automator" program they started adding years ago. I spent many a day trying to learn that thing, and finally concluded it was for programmers. If you could find an existing automation script that did what you want, it was fine, but try to make one yourself, and you needed programming skills. Why did they advertise that thing as such a time saver? I consider it one of those time-eaters that never pay off. I don't think their management ever actually tried to use it.

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Re: Keyboard Maestro Question

Post by frankf »

Shooshie wrote:I just downloaded Keyboard Maestro, which I'm trying out as a replacement for the ailing QuicKeys. (Hoping I don't have to make the switch)

So far, I have not seen any way to create "sticky" triggers, that is, triggers that must be done together in a particular order, to launch a shortcut into action. For example, in QK I can go through a whole range of color choices for a track in DP, in just a few seconds, using the same range of keys that I use in DP for transport controls: the keypad.

DP uses nearly every command on the keyboard for its own set of shortcuts, so how do you get unlimited triggers for QK using mainly the Keypad? A sticky trigger, in this case, involves a first trigger, such as COMMAND-OPTION-CONTROL-C, followed within a couple seconds by the next command: COMMAND-OPTION-CONTROL-[KEYPAD-7].

The two commands, back to back in rapid succession, open up the entire keyboard to almost infinite layers of commands, so that you simply can never run out of triggers from your keyboard. No more do you have to look for trigger conflicts between QuicKeys and your app, or between old shortcuts and new ones. Just add another layer with an initial trigger, then use any command you want for the 2nd trigger.

So, while holding down COMMAND-OPTION-CONTROL, I then hit C and [7]. The two triggers together run the menu item to change the track to a particular color. I can then hit [8], [9], [1], [2], and so forth, and over a period of about 6 seconds, all those secondary triggers that I'm hitting will run a different menu item, in this case track colors. So, by holding down COMMAND-OPTION-CONTROL, then hitting a string of keys, I can watch a whole slew of track colors being applied in rapid succession, stopping when I find one I like.

The same thing is possible with Window Sets, or any other high-volume set of commands, where you want to try a number of options before choosing one. You simply don't have to worry about running out of keys!

But in Keyboard Maestro, I have not found a way to link triggers for compound commands like those in QuicKeys. Does anyone know of a way to do that? Given my workflow and chosen methods, this is a deal killer if I cannot get that option.

I will write Keyboard Maestro's developer and ask for the feature if it doesn't already exist. But that could take years. Fortunately, my 2012 Mac Pro and Yosemite have not killed off QK yet. I'm just preparing for that moment down the road when Startly Technologies does the inevitable and announces that they have ceased development. They have not corrected bugs or done any updates in several years. Their responses on their website usually sound embattled and defensive. It's evident that the guy running things is not a programmer, and that he has run out of money to hire one. (speculation on my part, and not verifiable fact)

Shooshie
Shooshie,

I forgot to reply when you originally posted
In KM, if you assign multiple macros to a single trigger, say a hot key (and there are about 16 triggers possible including MIDI), they all pop up in a menu as you describe. You can choose by order number or a highlighted letter which KM provides.
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MIDI Life Crisis
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Re: Keyboard Maestro Question

Post by MIDI Life Crisis »

Very timely post for me. I was sick and tired of wrestling Quickeys so I pulled it out of login items and added KM. It's working OK but isn't 100% reliable. The first time I trigger certain macros they don't do what they're supposed to. The second and subsequent times, they do.

I'm also less than thrilled with the tech support and forum responses from the developer. He ALWAYS reverts to "user error" ad=nd insisting I don't understand how the app is designed. Well, I think I do understand and it just isn't really very intuitive. One annoyance is trying to set a macro for a specific application. It's so convoluted and quite frankly, I really don't like the app at all, but there is no alternative I can find. If QK came back with an upgrade I'd buy it in a heartbeat and dump KM faster than Willy Nelson can say "pass that."

ALL THAT SAID, I did find this:

http://wiki.keyboardmaestro.com/Troubleshooting
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Re: Keyboard Maestro Question

Post by bayswater »

Hmmm, a lot of documentation on what goes wrong with KM. It looks like a lot of work.
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Re: Keyboard Maestro Question

Post by MIDI Life Crisis »

It's kind of like having to move to Sibelius from Finale (or visa versa) or perhaps from DP to Reaper (R word alert!). I finally figured out how to do app specific macros today and when it works, it works fine. Finding the friggin' mouse coordinates is a royal PITA. I'm using MouseCood app. Pretty funky little tool but it gets the job done.
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Keyboard Maestro Question

Post by frankf »

Maybe I can help with simple KM stuff. I haven't used QK in years so I cannot compare the latest versions. First, go here http://www.keyboardmaestro.com/main/ and find documentation and other links at the bottom.
-In KM create and delete groups and macros using the +/- buttons on the bottom of the appropriate pane.
-After creating a group, define its scope. A DP group limited to DP for example.
-macros are built by dragging actions to the rightmost edit window. The actions appear after you enter edit mode via the edit button on the edit pane. Drag them in, highlight an action, copy and paste to duplicate. So if you want 5 Tabs, copy and paste the first one 4x. Each action has options from the simple to the complex.
-use the search field to find macros! It's a lot faster if you cannot remember which group an action resides in.
-to click on something, it must be in the same place in the window all the time, as I'm sure with QK IIRC. I record macro steps often to get window positions, then delete any extra steps that are superfluous. After I have the position, I edit the "relative to" field to my preference. That"s click relative to bottom left, bottom right, top left corners, etc.
-use a Pause step to slow things down a bit. Usually KM waits for DP, but sometimes KM gets ahead of the time DP needs to do certain things.
-Finally as with DP commands, watch for system, DP and other background key trigger conflicts. They can be real pains.

Hope this helps with a couple of simple things. The deeper programming stuff that KM can do is over my head.


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Re: Keyboard Maestro Question

Post by MIDI Life Crisis »

Thanks Frank. I'm getting the hang of it now and some stuff is a lot better than QK, IMO. Other stuff is not as intuitive. But it's just another tool and one just needs to work on it. I felt the same way about DP 2.7 and now I don't know how I ever did w/o it. Bottom line: KM works well once you figure out the mindset.
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Re: Keyboard Maestro Question

Post by bayswater »

Would someone using KM mind briefly describing one or two operations that you perform using it that are significantly simplified?
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Re: Keyboard Maestro Question

Post by MIDI Life Crisis »

I would except now KM is not triggering stuff it was triggering earlier in the day. The commands it is programmed (by me) to trigger were working and still work if I hit the command, but KM is not sending the info out to the app.

It is without exaggeration THE WORST program I have used in many years. It wouldn't even be worth it if it were freeware. Did I mention it elfin SUCKS! Well, it does!

:sorry:
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Re: Keyboard Maestro Question

Post by bayswater »

Well I was having a similar experience with QK. I'd build a simple macro, and it would do something different every time I used it. Didn't seem worth the time to figure it out. I guess that was related to the issues that caused some here to abandon it.

If anyone has success with KM, it would be great to hear a few concrete examples in DP.
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Re: Keyboard Maestro Question

Post by frankf »

Here's a few that I use all the time,
-reset chunk start time
-open configure Hardware driver
-view filter toggle items, like Notes
-pop out an active window in the Consolidated Window and zoom out
-show Smart Selection status in Edit menu
-show grouping status in menu
-add x value to velocity, durations etc.
-center mouse cursor on main display if I lose it
-all sorts of mini menu commands. Some, like SE track mini menu commands require placing mouse over the mini menu first, but that's DPs "fault" not KM
-assigning finger stretching commands to a KM menu and choosing by letter
And many, many more. And they work if I write them correctly. Sorry MLC for your troubles, but no problems here.


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Re: Keyboard Maestro Question

Post by bayswater »

frankf wrote:Here's a few that I use all the time,
-reset chunk start time
-open configure Hardware driver
-view filter toggle items, like Notes
-pop out an active window in the Consolidated Window and zoom out
-show Smart Selection status in Edit menu
-show grouping status in menu
-add x value to velocity, durations etc.
-center mouse cursor on main display if I lose it
-all sorts of mini menu commands. Some, like SE track mini menu commands require placing mouse over the mini menu first, but that's DPs "fault" not KM
-assigning finger stretching commands to a KM menu and choosing by letter
And many, many more. And they work if I write them correctly. Sorry MLC for your troubles, but no problems here.


Frank Ferrucci
Thanks for the examples. I could use a couple of those. Could the problem with mini menus be overcome with screen sets?

Do you/can you use KM to move change which MIDI track in the MIDI Editor has the little pencil icon? Can you use it to change the controller shown in the lower panel of the MIDI Editor?
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Re: Keyboard Maestro Question

Post by MIDI Life Crisis »

frankf wrote:Sorry MLC for your troubles, but no problems here.


Frank Ferrucci
Thanks. It may well be user error. I have a post up at their forum and they're very good about support.
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Re: Keyboard Maestro Question

Post by MIDI Life Crisis »

Not exactly user error but convoluted GUI. You have to set the GROUP to be activated under certain conditions at which point the GROUP gets a little badge saying it will only activate certain macros under certain conditions. I set it to ALWAYS and it's working again.

I suppose the programmer wanted to have more flexibility to have certain macros activated at certain times in an app but not always. Makes some sense, I suppose, but damn confusing. So it's not the worst program any more, but the learning curve is longer than it was for Finale or DP for me. Should be a simple GUI IMO.

Frankly, it seems a lot faster than QK once it gets set to the programmers standards, but getting there is quite a hump to get over. The programmer might ask: What hump?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtdJJDfY0-s
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Re: Keyboard Maestro Question

Post by James Steele »

I don't even need to click it to know that link is to a scene from Young Frankenstein. :)
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