Change default modifier key for zoom in Windows?

Cubase
1

I’ve been a Mac user for decades along with Windows, but mostly Mac, so I’m used to the main modifier key being Cmd, which is where usually Windows keyboards have the Alt key. Obviously in Windows the main modifier key is Ctrl.

Recently I realized that the 64 GB of RAM in my Mac Studio from 2022 were not going to cut it for large projects with lots of VSTis, and buying another Mac Studio with the same configuration but 192 GB of RAM would cost me $8,000, so instead I built myself a PC with that amount of RAM for roughly half that amount. Don’t get me wrong, if I could afford it, I would definitely pay double for the Mac Studio, especially the new one, if only to keep using macOS instead of Windows.

But using Windows means that after over a year of using Cubase and being used to zoom in and out by pressing the Cmd key and move the mouse wheel, now I have to press the Ctrl and move the wheel. I’m slowly getting used to it but having to press Ctrl to zoom in and out, something that in Cubase I do all the time, feels unnatural. Yes, I know, I’m a whiny bitch and this is a so called first world problem, but to me it’s about working fast and finding a comfortable way to perform repetitive tasks, so shoot me. :melting_face:

I could enable the Powertoys module that swaps Ctrl and Alt, but then everything else in the system gets switched, and I would have to use Ctrl still for other things, like the things you do with Alt in Windows like cutting a note and others.

So I was wondering if there was a way to set Alt to the modifier that controls zoom along with the mouse wheel.

2

On Windows the defaults are “G” to zoom out and “H” to zoom in, with the ctrl modifier for the mix console.
Or am I missing something? (I usually am!)

1 Like
3

Yes, those two shortcuts are the same in Windows and macOS, but I hardly ever use them. Using Ctrl/Cmd + mouse wheel is a much more common way to zoom in many programs and the one most people use.

4

I prefer the G and H also, only one hand needed

5

Actually, I barely use the wheel or other standardized zoom operations for that matter.
I have set up key commands in combination with alt for different zoom settings. Same for hide/show distinct insert slots, track visibility settings and others. Everything I use most frequently is set up with Alt plus various keys within easy reach of my left hand fingers.
Works well for me :slight_smile:

6

Good if that works for you all. But I’m not trying to get suggestions on which method is better, because to me the wheel mouse is better. I’m asking if there’s a way to change the modifier for zoom to be Alt instead of Ctrl just in Cubase Pro 14 for Windows.