Use Quickeys/Keyboard Maestro/Autohotkey to enhance Cubase

Posted By AndrewW in the thread about Pro Tools style automation trim (thanks lukasbrooklyn and Winter Rat) cubase ninja - pro tools-style trim automation macro - #37 by Tompa - Cubase - Steinberg Forums

nice!

what does the ā€˜$ā€™-sign mean in the hotkey definition btw? (as in, $!e::)

thank you.

Thanks Steve, this is one of those things that never really bothered me but glad to see working better now that I see the light. This of course no longer lets the mix window toggle which is fine since command+w closes it quickly when you want it closed. It makes sense the Project window does work right because you always have to have it open unlike the Mix window, so hence the toggle state when you press the shortcut.

Where in the key commands have you assigned it to a shortcut? I know it is in the Windows Menu but it doesnā€™t show up in the key commands list under windows or any other place I can find.

Related it would be so helpful to have multiple project windows open so you can be in different locations for editing, this is so helpful in Logic and even better in Pyramix with an integrated window. Maybe you have found a magical way to make that happen :exclamation:

I would love to look and any and all Cubase shortcuts you have in QuicKeys as I use that all the time.

Project>Bring to Front

I mainly use Keyboard Meastro, and just use Quickeys (which I bought years and years ago) for certain window switching stuff, since Maestro canā€™t see Always-on-Top windows and palettes.

Hereā€™s one I use to make the Mixconsole open if itā€™s closed, or to bring it to front if itā€™s open, rather than the simple toggle thatā€™s native to Cubase.

The other Quickeys macros I have only work in conjunction with Keyboard Maestro.

Great thanks Project:Bring to Front very helpful no more cmd+` through windows.

Thanks for the quicKeys script, looks like the first one you posted with future proofing of Cubase 8 (unless you have a beta). What does cmd+option+a do for you in the shortcut? For me that selects all tracks (not aware of a default in Cubase for this).

Oh, I already posted it in the OP! Yes, future proofing.

cmd+option+a is assigned to Agents: Undo Visibility Change. I donā€™t remember why though!

Hopefully others find this useful, I have been so frustrated and missed the function Pro Tools has of Control+Shift Click on the channel you click. This lets that track become the left most fader on your control surface. Well this Quickeys action in someways is better in other ways not as nice.

The way it is better is that it works for all selected tracks even if they are not contiguous, and focuses them to the fades on your control surface.

The way it is not better is it doesnā€™t move the top selected tracks to the top in the Project window and it hides the non selected channel strips in MixConsole 1.

In order for this to work the best without hiding the selected channels you want to have Sync Project and Mix Console turned off (turn it on if you want to hide the other tracks in the project page as well).

This is a wonderful solution I wish I and thought about much, much earlier. I might send my PreSonus FaderPort back now that didnā€™t run in 64 bit mode with Cubase and just stick with the MCU (Mackie Control Universal) now that I can easily focus what I am on.

If there is a way to do this accurately with using a macro only I am all in favor please let me know. The problem I found was that you would have to write the Macro to depend on the MixConsole 1 being open or closed respectively. For me I just want it to work regardless if it is open or not.

By the way the track show hides donā€™t work with the other MixConsoles that I could find unless there is a preference to change this behavior. I would really like to not hide the main MixConsole 1 channel strips with this command but that is the only way I could find to pull this function off.

In this QK file control+option+command+end is ā€œAgents: Show Only Selected Channels/Tracksā€ and control+option+shift+F3 is Project: ā€œBring to Frontā€. Those arenā€™t menu items so assign those to whatever key commands make sense and modify the last two commands accordingly.

Thanks Steve for the focus MixConsole tip that helped kick off this macro.
Cubase - Focus Control Surface on Selected Tracks.qkmx.zip (5.07 KB)
Sync_Project_and_Mix_Console.jpg

These days I am working on a Windows PC, so I donā€™t have quick access to the macros. Iā€™m not sure how helpful they would be to you, anyway. Also, in Cubase 8 the mixer no longer has always-on-top, which means I would have to edit the macros to accommodate.

As far as QK and KM competing with one another, I avoided that by making sure manually that no duplicate keystrokes were assigned.

Thanks Steve, this looks like the only uploaded Keyboard Maestro macros ever posted other than the one I posted (excluding screenshots since that is more difficult to search for Google). I like the idea of how you had the macro repeat while the key was held down, smart and useful method.

I slightly modified the scroll left for the score since it depended on the inspector being closed in modern version of Cubase. I thought about updating it to be based of an image but chose not to so I just disabled your version if someone wanted to bring it back. I like how you made it scroll regardless but also work in the score. From the name I was thinking it was only for scrolling in the score. I use the magic trackpad for a lot of this but will start using these key commands more since they feel much more accurate to me then the two finger scroll.

Also added some other scroll up and down and zoom in commands to the attached six Keyboard Maestro macros. The zoom commands depend on command being part of the modifier to work. Also the reason I mapped them to Home, End, Delete and Page down is because those are what I often use as alternates to the arrow keys on a full size keyboard since it is mapped to the same shape just above the arrow keys.
Scroll and Zoom in Cubase.kmmacros.zip (73.8 KB)

Waveform Zoom
Here is zooming the waveform using Keyboard Maestro for the Mac.

There are six macros
-Two of them move your cursor and zooms in and out smoothly.
-Two of them jump in increments and return your cursor to the previous location
-And finally two of them jump to max and normal wave form zoom sizes.

I have them mapped out to the home, end, delete and page down keys because they are like the arrow keys and the smooth zooming I mapped to the number pad plus and minus keys. Note you need to at least show the Status Line for this to work. You can also show the Status plus either the Overview or the Info Line but not both since it clicks relative to the window location. I have included one other example macro that works based on image, it is only slightly slower in execution but has less variables like if you show the docked racks.
Waveform Zoom.zip (130 KB)

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Hey Steve - Iā€™m wondering if you happen to have a script for opening plugins? If not Iā€™m willing to ā€œhireā€ you to create this ($50). Iā€™m in desperate need of this script and not rely on automation recording. Please let me know :slight_smile:

Hi @greywind,

I donā€™t have one, sorry.

Creating an external script for opening plugins is not something you should another pay user for, because as Cubase evolves the script would need to be updated. Individual users canā€™t be expected to provide that kind of support.

However, as you can see in the old thread, and in others, people are willing to share their scripts, so maybe thatā€™s s a route you could take.

Thanks for the response! I see some AHK scripts, no KM onesā€¦ here is what I have done so far - I have recorded automation to load a specific plugin in KM, not ideal but it works. Reā€™ payment - I think a small sacrifice for a reliable working script will be godsend, plus I only use Cubase 11ā€¦ anyway Iā€™m glad I found this thread.