Seeking a More Intuitive Way to Move Playback Cursor to Mouse Click Location

Cubase
1

Hey everyone,

I’m trying to find an intuitive way to move the playback cursor to the exact spot I click with my mouse in Cubase, without having to always use the ruler or additional key modifiers. I’m aiming for something as straightforward as in Ableton, where you just click somewhere and the playback cursor jumps right to that point, ready for playback from the new location.

So far, I’ve tried a couple of methods:

  1. Using Modifiers: The default Shift + Alt combo works, but it’s a bit cumbersome for me. I’d prefer not to rely on key modifiers for such a basic action.
  2. Preferences Setting: I enabled “Locate when Clicked in Empty Space” under Preferences > Transport, which is close to what I need but has an issue– it doesn’t snap to the grid, regardless of the snap settings.

Is there a more straightforward solution out there? Just a simple click on the arrangement window to reposition the playback cursor?

Thank you all

2

What’s wrong with just clicking the mouse on the ruler which moves the cursor to where you want it, double clicking moves the cursor and starts playback ?
Not sure I understand your problem.

4

Muscle Memory… Going back and forth from ableton to Cubase is the reason I wanted to have similar controls.

5

It’s a small area to click, especially if you have a high resolution screen, that could inhibit a quick workflow.

7

Thanks you for your answer. I am aware that it may not seem like a big of deal… But as I mentioned I move alot from Cubase to Ableton and these small details hinder my efficiency alot. Hence, I try to make them behave kind of similarly

8

My workaround is to use a mouse that has programmable side buttons. I have setup one of those to send Alt+Shift.

3 Likes
9

what’s the name of the alt + shift command in the key command pannel

10

I feel your pain here. It works in the project window, but not in the key editor window. Clicking in the ruler is kinda hard to hit accurately because of the hand that pops up to place the locatords.

11

Just to add a couple of options for any not aware of them…
A trick I got from another person here - sorry can’t remember who, Is to add another Ruler track at the top - this gives a wider area to click on. Also I found unticking the option in prefs ‘Clicking locator range in upper part of ruler activates cycle’ made it less fiddly to locate with ruler.
There is also the ‘Locate when clicked in empty space’ option in Prefs. And it’s easy to add an extra empty track somewhere so you always have that ‘empty space’ to click in. Finally the return to start position on stop is another option that may suit some and often seems to be overlooked. :slight_smile:

1 Like