In this free video tutorial Pro Tools Expert team member Julian Rodgers looks at the MIDI editor in Pro Tools and specifically on ways to direct keyboard shortcuts to the Edit window or to the docked MIDI editor.

Command Focus Shortcuts

The single keystroke shortcuts in Pro Tools can be used to control edit operations, the familiar shortcuts like R and T for zoom and B for separate can be switched off and the single keystroke functionality can instead be used to control the groups list of the clips list.

This can be changed by clicking on the small a-z buttons in the top right of each pane. Alternatively they can be controlled using the following shortcuts:

• CMD+Opt+1/Ctrl+Alt+1 - Command Focus

• CMD+Opt+2/Ctrl+Alt+2 - Clips List Focus

• CMD+Opt+3/Ctrl+Alt+3 - Groups List Focus

MIDI Editors

When using the MIDI editors in Pro Tools there are two choices, actually there are three, as notes view in the Edit window allows direct editing of MIDI in the timeline but for detailed work the floating or docked MIDI editors are available. The floating MIDI editor is my usual choice but the docked MIDI editor is just as useful and allows unobstructed use of the edit window at the same time. However there are several duplicated controls available between these two panes such as edit modes and edit tools. how do you control which is controlled by keyboard shortcuts?

The answer lies in the yellow highlight around the toolbars which can be on either the Edit window toolbar or the MIDI editor toolbar. Whichever toolbar is highlighted is affected by shortcuts. There is an additional set of shortcuts to change the focus from the Edit page and docked MIDI editors:

• CMD+Opt+4/Ctrl+Alt+4 - Edit Window Focus

• CMD+Opt+5/Ctrl+Alt+5 - Docked MIDI Editor Focus

See these shortcuts demonstrated and some examples of how you might use them in the free video tutorial.

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