So much so that i have it on my keyboard as a shortcut.
When i decide i want to punch in, i want to have a shortcut that turns it on, or off. Definitivity, not toggling!
What i mean is, my chain of thought is like this:
I say to myself: “OK, now i want to punch in, so i’ll turn punch in on”.
I don’t care if punch in was already on, or off. I don’t care and i don’t want to have to look at the screen to check. Because that partly defeats the purpose of shortcuts: to get you away from using the mouse and looking at the screen all the time.
So my feature request is to be able to set THREE shortcuts for a toggling button like punch in:
As an example:
Shortcut #1: toggles punch in out
Shortcut #2: places punch in in a state of “off” REGARDLESS of the previous state.
Shortcut #3: places punch in in a state of “on” REGARDLESS of the previous state.
So actually having shortcuts #2 & #3 would make #1 useless and obsolete!!
Well, there is the setting: “Deactivate Punch in in on stop” If you activate it, punch in will deactivate after you use it each time, so you’ll (almost) only ever have to turn it on.
Thanks, but that’s not what i always want to happen! Perhaps i need to try a punch in multiple times. Then it keeps turning punch in off every time i hit spacebar!
Anyway, i was just using it as an example, something like preroll on / off is another example of a state that i want to be able to set without knowing or caring (or most importantly having to check) what the present state is. And there are many many other examples. Snap on / off, loop on / off etc etc.
What is needed is a Project Logical property that tests for what state a given pref is in, then the user could customize as needed. That would be the FR I would make, rather than ask for what would amount to scores of new entries in the Key Commands dialog.
Another workaround would be to activate the pref I mentioned, and to create a macro that: stops playback, then activates punch in.
Sure, if it needed to be done via the logical editor, that would be fine, i see your point about key command bloat.
But i’m kinda surprised this isn’t already implemented somehow, it would really help with workflow and getting us away from staring at the damn computer screen!
Sort of, but like i said, i used punch in as an example, i would like this functionality on many buttons like loop, snap, preroll etc etc.
I’ve actually got a workaround technique which works like this:
Say i want to turn snap on. I look vaguely at the middle of the screen without actively looking for the snap button. I press the snap shortcut once and can see in my peripheral vision if a button turned on or off. If i see a button go on, i’m good to go, but if i saw it go off, i press once more!
Once i’ve finished the punch, i often want to reverse all those states. If what i am suggesting was implemented, i could set up a macro to achieve that all with one keystroke!
Seems like you’re just looking at the screen, using the function, and not doing any kind of working around. Do you know about the ctrl key temporarily disabling snap?
I hear what you’re saying, so go for it. I won’t plus one this because it only addresses a small subset of what needs to be improved apropos to keystroke switches and commands. The fix, imo, needs to be part of a larger design philosophy rather than a plethora of one-off fixes.
The workaround is i don’t need to look at the button in question, just at the centre of the screen, then i see it in my peripheral vision, that’s quicker then actually finding the button on the screen each screen. Try it!
As far as i’m concerned, having definitive state button shortcuts would speed up my workflow no-end and i’d rather have it now then wait for some total overhaul that may never come! Seems quite simple to implement via the logical editor as you suggested.
It would enable, via macros, to build custom state templates, like the punch in state that i described above, but i’m sure there are many other examples.
In general I’m all for being able to set an absolute state in addition to toggling and think Steve’s PLE suggestion is a good way to achieve that. I use a KC to toggle the preference to return the cursor to the start position (or not) and it is a real pain to use because there is no visual indicator that shows the current state. I’ve often wondered why this is a Preference in the first place and not just a button.
Excellent point about return cursor. I finally just had the inspiration to make this a KC on my DAW. The KC helps, but now sometimes there’s this new confusion - although actually most of the time it’s a case of: it didn’t do what I wanted so I need to hit the KC once to change the state. But a switch/indicator like snap-to-grid that was always visible would be most useful. So, absolutely: make it a button!