We already know that when the time comes to really squeeze the power out of your Pro Tools rig, it’s all about the key commands.  But what if there’s a function that exists in the menus but doesn’t yet have a key command?  No problem, make your own!  This tip is for Mac OSX systems, by the way.  I imagine this can be done in Windows as well, but I’m not the guy to tell you how.

In any case, here’s how we Mac folk can do it:

1) First pick a menu item that doesn’t have an existing key command for which you’d like to add one.  One set of commands that I’m a big fan of is under the Edit menu, under Trim Region:

As you can see, I’ve already added a few handy key commands to these menu options that otherwise would have none at all.  Specifically I’ve added F14, F15, and Control-F14 to the three bottom commands.

The ability to add custom key commands exists in Mac OSX itself, and is not exclusive to Pro Tools.  It’s actually been around for quite some time, but if you’re running 10.4 or older you’ll have to quit and re-open your program for the new key commands to take effect.  For 10.5 and newer, they become available immediately.  Here’s the method:

1) go to the Apple menu and choose “System Preferences”

2) go to “keyboard & mouse” (for Mac OSX 10.5) or “keyboard” (for Mac OSX 10.6)

3) Click on the “keyboard shortcuts” tab

4) scroll down to the bottom of the list to where you see “Application Keyboard Shortcuts”

5) click the plus button on the bottom-left of the window to add a new key command

6) on the window that pops up, click on the “Application: ” menu and choose “other,” then go and find your Pro Tools application (normally at /Applications/Digidesn/Pro Tools/ )

7) In the field labeled “Menu Title: ” you must type the EXACT TEXT of the Pro Tools menu item for which you want to add a key command.  You MUST get spelling, spacing, and capitalization correct.  Go ahead and enter one, such as the one I created for the Trim Region sub-menu that reads “Start to Fill Selection”

8- click the mouse into the “Keyboard Shortcut” field and type the key command you want to use.  For the command I added, I chose F14.

9) When you’re done, CLICK the “add” button (don’t hit the return key, because it will simply think you want to use the return key for your command!)

You’ve now added your own key command to Pro Tools!  Go ahead and add as many as you like.  Just be sure that they don’t overlap existing commands, and that they also don’t conflict with OS-wide functions like Exposé and Spaces.  Personally I just turn those functions off on my workstation so I can have more easy F-keys available for custom Pro Tools commands.

Post a comment with what custom key-commands you’ve added!