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Feature Wish: Octave transpose shortcut buttons

Greetings,

Here's something which is not crucial, but would be handy. In the Clip/Tools/Transpose dialog box, I wish there were standard buttons for Octave+ and Octave- next to the interval spinner box. These would allow the user to quickly transpose up or down by an octave.

I usually compose string bass parts one octave higher than where they'll eventually be played, just so my tired old ears can hear the notes clearly and accurately. Once happy, I then drop everything down an octave to where the notes ought to be.

So, when composing/testing/editing, I'm frequently shifting a bunch of notes up, then down, then up, then down, etc. Using the spinner box to spin from 0 to +12 down to -12 and back again is fairly time consuming. Likewise, typing in values means taking the hand from the mouse to the keyboard and back again.

Since octaves up or down are fairly common (at least in my work), having shortcut buttons for those two intervals would be great. This is something I used all the time with Cakewalk on DOS twenty years ago, and I miss that feature. For what it's worth, Cakewalk also had buttons for Semitone+ and Semitone- as well, in addition to the text entry box.

Thanks for listening,

Thomas

Forums: 

Not at all what you're asking for but I can help speed up your workflow a bit.

In the Piano Roll shortcuts menu, create these shortcuts

  • T = Edit/Tools/Transpose
  • S = Edit/Select Mode/Edit - Set edit mode off
  • W = Edit/Select Mode/Edit - Set edit mode on
  • A = Edit/Select/All

Now, when you enter a clip via a double-click you can quickly select all notes (A) or enter what I deem as "Select Mode" (S). If S was used to enter Select mode, use the rodent to quickly select around the group of notes of interest. With notes of interest selected, whack T for the Transpose dialog.

As you've identified, using a spinner box with the mouse is going to be very inefficient for this task. Instead, just enter 12 (or -12) as a value and hit OK

It also looks like there's some preset saving capability which may already provide you with what you want. I don't use them (maybe I'm missing out) so I wouldn't know if saved presets are stored locally to the session or globally (which would make them available for any session). I'm sure someone knows...

Anyway, I use these (and more) shortcuts all the time in order to get things done very quickly. The trick is to make use of them for the most common operations... the "bread and butter" stuff you find yourself doing all the time. From what you described above, this is a perfect scenario.

By the way, the reason we mapped W is to provide a means to get back to what I call "Write Mode".

Thanks so much, windowsrefund, for taking the time to write up your excellent shortcuts. I truly appreciate your sharing spirit.

These will enter my arsenal at once. Moreover, they've stimulated me to think about other ways to use your ideas.

Thomas

I'm happy you found the approach (potentially) useful. For the record, I maintain a list of all the mappings I use here

Although the feature you suggest would be useful in Qtractor, I'll tell you a trick.

If you click inside the box and use the mouse wheel you can change the values ​​quickly.

Using the mouse wheel with Ctrl, the interval will jump by 10.
From what you say, using Ctrl is not an option for you (I assume you have difficult access to the keyboard, it also happens to me when I record), but it doesn't hurt to know.

Hi Tommas:

I've realized that what you really need is not a new feature in Qtractor, but a midi plugin.

You put it right at the top of your plugin box of the track that contains the synth, or that sends a signal to an external synth.
You set it to +12.
Now you just have to activate and deactivate it from the mixer or the plugin box of the track.

It's better in every way:
1 Easier to access.
2 It affects the entire track, not individual clips.
3 You're not actually modifying the clip, it's a non-destructive process.

I don't know if you know or have installed these Midi plugins, they are fantastic.
https://www.x42-plugins.com/x42/x42-midifilter

There you can download the 64bit Linux version.
Just unzip it and copy the modifilter.lv2 folder into your local hidden ".lv2" folder. If this folder doesn't exist, create it:

/home/"MyUser"/.lv2

Thank you, G3N-es for the valuable technique.

Just now I noticed that there's the option to save a preset for the Transpose dialogue. Thus, it's simple enough to save a preset for Octave-Up and another for Octave-Down.

This is virtually as efficient as having dedicated octave transpose buttons.

The lesson I've learned is to keep my eyes open when exploring the various dialogues and windows!

Thomas

In all this time using Qtractor (years) I didn't realize that Midi Tools also comes with presets.

This may be of help to me. Thanks.

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