Favorite Shortcuts

Long time ago I set my

F4 for "Back One (or Previous)Measure"
F5 for "Forward One (Or Next) Measure"
F2 for "Previous Marker"
F3 for "Next Marker"

I can move around very quickly this way without even thinking about it. When working in another DAW I find my self looking for this function that isn't there.

The drawback is that CW uses these "F" keys for other things. And after starting to use X1 I decided to not use my own bindings of the "F" keys and try to use what the bakers had intended. That didn't last! Whatever CW intended for those keys is lost to me now! I don't miss them and find my own bindings much more useful. 

musicroom


Outside of the spacebar, there are so many shortcuts that I would imagine a lot of you use and I probably should...  I have trouble letting go of the mouse but it is much faster when I do. Feel free to add.

"N" Center the Selection

"Cntrl L/R Arrows" Zoom horizontal
"Cntrl Up/Down Arrows" Zoom vertically

The N to center selection was a very underutilized one for me until recently, but since I quasi-rediscovered it, I use it all the time.


As for zooming, I've been using the AutoHotKey macro that William Edstrom Jr presented in his Groove3 video "Mixing with Sonar X1" I find it one of the more useful ones I've come across.

A quick zoom function is badly needed. 

[edit] Like "Zoom To Selection" with one key.

 
These are my keybinding:
 

 
 
As you can see, aside from the standard Windows shortcuts (like Ctrl+S/C/X/V/Z) and the two track zooms, I've deliberately customised the rest of my key-bindings to the functions I use most often in X1 so I only have to use one key. I find that incredibly helpful in speeding up my workflow.
 
Using the arrow keys to zoom has been an absolute boon. For example, it means that when I'm doing a spot of comping I can easily zoom in and out with one hand while fiddling about editing a track with the mouse with my other hand.

Awesome keybindings Strummeister. I am appropriating them for myself now.

My favorite is "`" Pick Tracks for PRV and SV. Saves lots of mouse actions. Also, in PRV "A" Show all Tracks "N" Show no Tracks This is great during midi editing of multiple tracks.

The only problem with custom key bindings is when one has to help another with a key sequence in answer to a question.

I have only one custom key binding for reset clip indicators. This is not normally bound.

musicroom


The autohotkey macro is unknown to me right now. Guess I need to check out Groove3.

I'm doing more and more smaller edits for cleanup in X1 that I used to only do in SF. The "zoom selection" option in SF is something I would like to have in X1. That is a great way to see what you want quickly.

I'm sure it's no big deal if I post it as it's just a freeware program and a macro, but here it is - it's a quick zoom in on the selected track   macro mapped to the bracket [ ] and +/- keys.  You can download AutoHotKey at  http://www.autohotkey.com/  

Here is what you add to the script at the bottom:

; Sonar Fast Zoom In
NumpadAdd::
]::
Loop 5
{
Sleep 1
Send ^{Right}
}
return

; Sonar Fast Zoom Out
NumpadSub::
[::
Loop 5
{
Sleep 1
Send ^{Left}
}
return   

In the program just select File and Edit script and add this to the script and save it to your desktop as whatever you want to call it, I have it as Sonar Fast Zoom.  You can launch it before Sonar by just double clicking the saved script.  I zooms in/out quickly in steps of 5x with each key press so you can quickly get in and out of a waveform for editing or viewing.  Just make sure you end the script if you need those keys in windows for something otherwise yuo may end up with some head scrathers


Hope someone else finds it useful.