Using QuicKeys with DP (or other external macros)

[DanielCoe]

Hey all, I'm wondering who out there uses QuicKeys with DP and what kinds of approaches you use for certain tasks. Any tips for different approaches (e.g. using the drop down menus vs using a DP-based shortcut to raise a window)?

[FMiguelez]

I use QK for changing editing tools in the GE, such as the CC layer the pencil edits (Cross Fade velocity, volume, expression, Offset, etc).

I also use it for changing the reshape tool flavour and type, as well as for invoking Window Sets, loop playback, etc.

QK, together with Automator routines rock! I just programmed one called "New Projects", where folders are copied and color coded, a new DP session created, and lots of stuff happen to quickly sit down and start writing, etc.

These QK routines have really speeded up my editing and workflow so much!

[Tripi]

I have QK shortcuts for all of my usual quantize functions, scaling, transposing, velocity settings, v-rack switching, and track editing. I also use it for quickly changing MIDI CC in the MIDI editor, and selecting the spline tool.

[MIDI Life Crisis]

Basically, you customize it for whatever your repetitive tasks are and/or for processes that are involved (as in a series of menus and check boxes, etc) or basically for the stuff you are too lazy to want to reach for a menu for. Indispensable and not approved for ML but it works.

There has been a rumor for years they Startley if going under as will QK, but it hasn't happened yet.

[frankf]

I let QK go several years ago for Keyboard Maestro. But for most DP programmable commands (or sequences of them) I use Keypad Pro Plus on my iPad. Single named and colored buttons do it all with one tap. So assign "show active layer only" to cmd-opt-ctrl-shift-F13 and never worry about remembering it again.


Frank Ferrucci

[Shooshie]

One of the great things about QuicKeys is its maturity. Like DP, it's been around since the late 1980s, and it has run on every Mac since the Mac Plus. They had a false start in OSX, because Apple had not allowed for some routines that are essential to any Macro generating app, but after a few versions of OSX and of QK, it all started working great again. In fact, it's better than ever. To be more specific, it handles more types of sequences or commands than ever before, more kinds of triggers, and it tracks movement much better than any of the "classic" versions did.

What this means is that you can create routines that utilize relative positioning with much greater accuracy and dependability than in older versions. This means that you can dive into mini-menus without holding your breath and knocking on wood. Your routines can be crazy in their ability to jump around from task to task without losing focus on the end result.

One of my online hobbies is piecing together time-lapse photography into short movies. I use cameras available out there for free, which usually will send you pictures of a scene at certain intervals, usually a second or maybe 5 seconds, 15 seconds, a minute, etc. QuicKeys can easily be set up to do the snapshots while you go shopping or see the dentist. Then QK will help you organize them, sort them, rename them if necessary, and load them into an app that will let you string them into a movie. Similarly, you can create multiple step processes within Digital Performer that will run with confidence. I have dozens of scenes of sunsets, sunrises, drawbridges with ships going under them, and patterns created by waves and wakes as boats ply the water's surface at speed. I've got a full year of season changes in just a minute or so. All kinds of things.

One of my favorite things about QK is the ability to use just about anything for a trigger, including MIDI events. And one type of trigger is the sticky. Sticky triggers persist after you type them, so that you can add another command, making possible "dual commands." This exponentially increases the number of commands available to the user. For example, I love using the right-hand keypad on the full aluminum keyboard. There you have 22 keys neatly organized into rows of four. I think you can use them all except maybe for the enter key. So, when I want to audition track colors, I type COMMAND-OPTION-SHIFT-C, and then hold down command, option, and shift while I run through all 21 of the keypad keys, watching the colors as I go. Change the first "sticky" command, and I get to use all those keys again… and again and again and again. This is great for grouping commands together for related tasks. I find it much easier to remember sets of commands involving the same keys over and over. It's like changing the furniture and pictures on the walls of a house, while hanging on to the familiar floor plan, over and over again.

QK is already great, but it keeps getting better and better. Your only real limit is your imagination, combined with your laziness. Yes, the lazier you are, the greater a tool is QuicKeys, and the lazy person with QK in hand will become very productive in devising complex routines to do his or her work. Why work when your software robot can do it for you?


Shooshie

[DanielCoe]

Thank you all for chiming in and providing many insights. What I am encountering is issues with windows not aligning from project to project (whether it be "physically" on the screen or by title). I've found options within QK to disregard specific window titles, but am running in to a variety of troubles doing things like changing durations. I have a script that opens the window, but doing all the steps to set the proper number is troublesome. I discovered that I can save a preset for something like "set duration to 1" and then program QK to select that from the mini drop down, but what if the Change Duration window moves?? I'm looking for very specific solutions and appreciate all the insights you've already provided!

[DanielCoe]

This means that you can dive into mini-menus without holding your breath and knocking on wood.

Thanks for that. What QK function will ensure position relative to that window? It seems that I am assuming incorrectly that QK is simply recording screen placement of my clicks, etc. It actually recognizes the windows?

[MIDI Life Crisis]

You can enter screen coordinates where the click should be but in many cases it will click a specifically named button, menu item, etc.

Just get it!

[labman]

Can you QK peeps try to see if you can get it to open the "save (or load) board layout" from mixer mini menus? Those are the kinds of macros I have difficulty making with iKey.

[Shooshie]

This means that you can dive into mini-menus without holding your breath and knocking on wood.

Thanks for that. What QK function will ensure position relative to that window? It seems that I am assuming incorrectly that QK is simply recording screen placement of my clicks, etc. It actually recognizes the windows?

There are more options than I want to list here. They include specific and relative references to windows, buttons, and menus, as well as references to one of the four corners of the specified window or of the screen.

Usually an actual screen recording is not the way to go. It's more accurate and dependable to name the window and menu, and to select the menu item by positioning the cursor over it and releasing a key that puts a marker on that menu, thus teaching QuicKeys what it needs to know to find it again.

QK is too deep for me to explain it all right here. You'll just have to learn it!

Shooshie

[MIDI Life Crisis]

I agree with Shoishie. It's not so great an expense that you can't buy it and try it, especially given the positive feedback here.

Seriously, you got your answer. It's time to release your arrow or put down the bow. QK is ESSENTIAL for those who use it. There are other apps that are similar but none that will do what QK does.

Done.

[frankf]

Glad to hear QK is working well again. If it can target every window's mini menu I may switch back. OTOH right clicking in a window shows a menu of items in dP8 so maybe there's any easier way now to access the mini menu commands with a macro program than targeting a triangle in different locations on a GUI but I've not tried this yet

[FMiguelez]

Using Window Sets ensures that windows will always open in the same place, so your QK routines will always work as expected.

And you could recall these Window Sets with QK too

[mikehalloran]

One of the great things about QuicKeys is its maturity... it has run on every Mac since the Mac Plus.

Which was the last time I bought it. Hmmm... I wonder, do I still have an upgrade path available?