Add File, Import, MIDI... to Key Commands?

Dorico
1

In Preferences, I’m not seeing anywhere that I can add a Key Command (key shortcut) to directly import a MIDI file without first having to use the menu. I see there is already a Key Command in the menu for importing a MusicXML file, but I don’t see anywhere to modify that behavior within the Key Command section in Preferences, so I’m thinking that must be hard coded within the program. Is there any way that I can add a Key Command to import MIDI files? I am importing quite a few of them, and it would streamline the process if there were a way to do so.

2

You may want to search for Dorico jump bar, and jump bar aliases. There is a lot of power there for repetitive tasks.

3

I wasn’t familiar with the jump bar, so thanks for bringing it to my attention. However, it looks like what it does is to string together a series of key commands, so while I can see how it is extremely useful, I don’t see how it can help me to automate adding MIDI files if I can’t add a key command to add them in the first place. No?

4

It has different modes., you describe one mode - but another is command mode. Use Alt-c for windows and ctrl-1 on Mac. It lets you find a command and assign aliases to the commands. Say you give the alias im to import midi. Thereafter type jmi, j to bring up the jump bar, mi for the import

5

Thanks. I see how this works, except “Import MIDI” doesn’t seem to be one of the available options in command mode. One could use the “Open…” command to open a MIDI file, but that opens the MIDI file as a new Project, and I want to import the MIDI file as a new Flow into an existing project, so I need a command that is the equivalent of going through the menu File, Import, MIDI… Again, please tell me if I am missing something.

6

You’re not missing anything, Scott. At the present time it’s not possible to assign a key command specifically to importing a MIDI file into the current flow. If you’re on Windows, you can do it reasonably quickly using the menu accelerators, though I’m not running Windows here so I can’t remember exactly what they will be (I would guess Alt+F, I, M, but it probably won’t be quite as simple as that!).

7

Thanks, I’ll look into that, but if that doesn’t work, it’s not that big of a deal. It’s only a couple of clicks of the mouse, after all. As much as anything, I was wanting to know if I was missing something and/or to learn more about the functionality of Dorico since I am a new user.

8

Apologies, I made an assumption that the command was in there since it is a menu item.

9

If you’re up for a json hack, you can manually add the following command to your user keycommands file in the kGlobal context to create the shortcut:

					{
						"File.Open?FilterID=MIDIFileImportFilter" : [ "Ctrl+Alt+Shift+I" ]
					},

Obviously make a backup first in case you get some syntax wrong. Just substitute whatever command you want, but I tested it with Ctrl+Alt+Shift+I and it seems to work fine.

10

Great tip. Thanks. I’m completely comfortable editing JSON files and did so, although I realized I also needed to edit my keyboard language-specific file, in my case, English, to get it to work. I chose Ctrl+Shift+M since that wasn’t being used, it was a little shorter, and I thought it would be easier to remember. Thanks again.

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