KC to momentarily bypass snap on/off

I spend quite a lot of time enabling and disabling “Snap on/off” by pressing the J-key. Especially when jumping between using the scissors in the arrange window (or editing in general) and setting loop/punch locators etc.

Loigic (and many other DAWs) has this neat feature to bypass the snap-function while holding down the cmd-key, as a momentary snap bypass-switch. This switch in conjunction with using the ALT-key for the scissors is the way to super fast editing because you don’t have to move your left hand, and you don’t have to press KC’s twice to toggle snap on/off. I’m sure people coming from Logic miss this feature as well. Shouldn’t be too hard to implement, and would significantly increase the workflow speed.

Please comment if I’m not making my self clear - this feature would be a great addition to Cubase’s workflow.

/E

+1 a momentary switch for snap and scissors would be nice.

Regards :sunglasses:

+1

Doesn’t Cubase already have a modifier key to change the snap state? (defaults to ctrl)

Yes, but not while using the scissors by pressing ALT, I think.

Maybe try it. Here it does work with the scissors tool.

Can you bypass snap momentarily (not toggle) by pressing a key - while already pressing ALT for scissors? If so - how? :slight_smile:

Loigic (and many other DAWs) has this neat feature to bypass the snap-function while holding down the cmd-key, as a momentary snap bypass-switch. This switch in conjunction with using the ALT-key for the scissors

I understood you to be talking the alt-key in Logic, now I see you’re talking about the integrated split/copy tool in the Select tool in Cubase.

Are you on Mac then? (would be nice if everyone created a sig saying what system they use, no?)

There’s no easy way, but if you can use that tool with snap always momentarily off, and you keep snap on in the toolbar:
Change the modifier key for Select Tool> Split Event to ctrl-alt (ctrl-opt on mac) The result will be that snap is off whenever you hold down ctrl-alt to get the split/copy tool.

The other way is by using an external macro utilty like Keyboard Maestro on Mac or Autohotkey on Windows. Sorry, I switched to Windows a while back and no longer maintain my Keyboard Maestro macros.

For Windows users:
Here is an Autohotkey script that will activate the Split tool while you hold down the ‘s’ key. Using that method, holding the ctrl key down will suspend snap. You can modify it to make a momentary switch for any tool.

How-to:
Install Autohotkey.
Download and unzip the attached file, or
Paste the code below into a plain text document and save it with the .ahk extension.
Launch the file.

SetWorkingDir %A_ScriptDir%
;~ CoordMode, Mouse, Window
;~ SendMode Input
#SingleInstance Force

;============ Split tool while key held down =============

$s:: ; the $ symbol stops the key from being sent to Cubase 
ControlGetFocus, OutputVar, A ; assures that command won't run if a text input field is active
if ErrorLevel
{
Send, 3 ; activate tool using the keystroke in Cubase Key Commands ; This script assumes you already have '3' set as the shortcut to the split tool. Change '3' to your own shortcut if it's not already '3'.
KeyWait, s  ; wait for the s key to be released
Send, 0 ; switch to select tool- as above, change the Send kestroke to your shortcut. 
}
else

Send, s ; types the letter d into the text input field if one is active

return ; ends script and returns to waiting for keystroke.

;=========================

MomentarySwitch.zip (634 Bytes)

Hey! Thanks for taking the time. Yes I’m on a Mac Pro (2010, 6 core, 32gb RAM, running Cubase 9.0.20). I tried assigning ctrl-alt to “split event”, but it still snaps to grid. Think what an awesome thing to have “slip event” at alt-cmd and “scissors with snap off” (or “split at mouse cursor”) at alt-ctrl. The time that would be saved. :slight_smile:

i follow your instructions, but it didn’t work for me :frowning: I’m holding S button, but nothing happened. except standart Solo function
btw, can this script work with Mouse extra buttons? (in web browser back and forth)

for example,by holding: back button Scissor tool, forth button select tool

If it doesn’t work, it is either not running, or you have to configure your Cubase key commands correctly. Read the script for more info.

Yes, it’s possible to map any key to various mouse buttons.

Steve’s workaround will help (so thanks. :wink: ) but…

I (and I assume the OP still) would like Steinberg to do the programming and incorporate the KC to enable us to momentarily bypass the snap and momentarily activate the scissors tool. This would be mucho better than installing a third party program “autohotkey” and doing whatever was instructed. I just want to make music and not be a programmer.

So still a +1 from me.

Regards. :sunglasses:

Exactly what I am looking for. Any news on this topic?

Obviously not.

Just wanted to bump it in order for somebody to potentially help me resolve this annoying little issue.